Krukenberg's tumour unilateral giant metachronous of colonic origin - Case report

Krukenberg tumour (KT) is defined by the World Health Organization as a metastatic ovary carcinoma, usually of gastric origin. The term has also been applied to metastatic tumors originating from adenocarcinomas of other sites, such as the colon. After radical resection of colorectal carcinoma, metachronous ovarian metastases can occur in 1.1% of cases. Due to their rarity and rapid progression, KTs needs a high level of suspicion. Here we present an atypical case of KT and highlight the importance of the timely recognition of this disease.

A 57-year-old patient presented a 30-cm metastatic ovarian tumor on the major axis, whose primary tumor was a resected sigmoid adenocarcinoma 6 years ago. She was submitted to complete resection of the tumor, whose anatomopathological and immunohistochemical analysis proved the colonic metastatic origin.

Besides being unusual, this disease is most commonly bilateral, premenopausal, and synchronous with the primary tumor. Unlike the common behavior, the case described is unilateral, postmenopausal, and metachronous, with a 6-year interval between the primary colonic tumor and the dissemination of ovarian metastasis.

KT is an uncommon and poor prognosis disease, whose chance of better therapeutic results depends on accurate diagnosis and proper management.