Tubular Krukenberg tumor. A problem in histopathologic diagnosis

A review of a series of 70 Krukenberg tumors seen in consultation disclosed 13 cases with a predominant tubular pattern. Eleven of them had been diagnosed by the referring pathologist as a tumor in the sex cord-stromal category, usually a Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor; no diagnosis was preferred in the other two cases. Three factors contributed to the erroneous diagnoses: a prominent tubular pattern, luteinization of the stroma of the tumor in five cases, and associated virilization in two cases. Each tumor, however, contained typical signet-ring cells that were readily demonstrable with mucicarmine stains. In six cases the tumors were unilateral and in seven, bilateral. Ten patients died of their cancer from 2 to 21 months after the diagnosis had been made. In one case the ovarian tumors were not discovered until autopsy. Two patients are alive 7 and 9 months postoperatively. A primary tumor was found in the stomach in four cases and in the sigmoid colon and appendix in one each. No primary tumor was found in seven cases but an autopsy had been performed in only one of these. The diagnosis of Krukenberg tumor must always be considered in the differential diagnosis of an ovarian tumor with a tubular pattern even though endocrine manifestations are present.