Secondary Tumors of the Gynecologic Tract: A Clinicopathologic Analysis

Although the spread of extragenital tumors to individual female genital tract organs, particularly the ovary, has been much studied, histologic data with regard to secondary tumors involving the whole gynecologic tract are largely lacking. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate the pathologic and clinical features of these tumors in order to better understand their features. This is a retrospective study of 196 secondary lesions involving the gynecologic tract. The parameters studied were the primary site, its histologic type and grade, the presence of mucous production, the type of secondary involvement, defined as distant metastasis, direct extension or locoregional recurrence, and the time to metastasis. Organs involved were the ovary (50%), the vagina (22%), the myometrium (10.7%), the cervix (10.2%), the endometrium (3.6%), the vulva (2%), and the Fallopian tube (1.5%). Most often, primary tumors were colorectal (39.8%), endometrial (15.3%), breast (12.7%), ovarian (10.7%), and gastric (5.6%). Secondary tumors were metachronous in 43.9% of the cases with a mean time to recurrence of 55.5 mo. Distant metastases were the most common type of secondary involvement (64.8%), followed by direct extension (19.9%) and local recurrence (15.3%). Gastrointestinal tumors involved mostly the ovaries, endometrial tumors the vagina, ovarian tumors the myometrium, and urothelial tumors the cervix/vagina (P<0.0001). Vaginal lesions endometrial origin presented with only superficial invasion (P=0.0002). The primary tumor's features dictate a different pattern of secondary involvement of the gynecologic tract. Endometrial tumors produce mostly superficial vaginal recurrences, mucus-producing gastrointestinal tumors present with ovarian metastases, whereas breast tumors affect the entire gynecologic tract and present the tumors with the most late recurrences.