Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2024 Feb 26;12(6):1190-1195.
doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i6.1190.

Management of retroperitoneal high-grade serous carcinoma of unknown origin: A case report

Wen-Lin Hsieh  1 , Dah-Ching Ding  1   2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Management of retroperitoneal high-grade serous carcinoma of unknown origin: A case report

Wen-Lin Hsieh et al. World J Clin Cases. .

Abstract

Background: Retroperitoneal high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) of unknown origin is a sporadic tumor that can originate from ovarian cancer. Herein, we report the case of a woman with retroperitoneal HGSC of unknown origin and describe how she was diagnosed and treated.

Case summary: A 71-year-old female presented with the tumor marker CA125 elevated to 1041.9 U/mL upon a regular health examination. Computed tomography revealed retroperitoneal lymph node enlargement. Subsequently, positron emission tomography scanning revealed lesions with increased F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose uptake at the nodes. As a result, she underwent laparoscopic lymph node resection, and pathology revealed metastatic adenocarcinoma with CK7(+), PAX8(+), WT1(+), PR(-), and p53 mutational loss of expression, indicating that the origin may be from the adnexa. The patient was admitted to our ward and underwent laparoscopic staging; however, the pathological results were negative. Under the suspicion of retroperitoneal HGSC of unknown origin, chemotherapy and targeted therapy were initiated. Tumor marker levels decreased after treatment.

Conclusion: We present a case of HGSC of unknown origin managed using retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy, staging surgery, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.

Keywords: Case report; Chemotherapy; High-grade serous carcinoma; Lymph node; Origin; Retroperitoneum.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunohistochemistry of the retroperitoneal high-grade serous carcinoma. The carcinoma was negative for p53 (scale bar = 200 μm), and positive for WT1, PAX8, and CK7 (scale bar = 1 mm).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Otsuka I. Primary Retroperitoneal Carcinomas: New Insights into Pathogenesis and Clinical Management in Comparison with Ovarian Carcinomas and Carcinoma of Unknown Primary. Cancers (Basel) 2023;15 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Matulonis UA, Sood AK, Fallowfield L, Howitt BE, Sehouli J, Karlan BY. Ovarian cancer. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16061. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Otsuka I. Mechanisms of High-Grade Serous Carcinogenesis in the Fallopian Tube and Ovary: Current Hypotheses, Etiologic Factors, and Molecular Alterations. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Sessine MS, Zhai Y, Tipton C, McCool K, Kuick R, Connolly DC, Fearon ER, Cho KR. Lineage tracing suggests that ovarian endosalpingiosis does not result from escape of oviductal epithelium. J Pathol. 2019;249:206–214. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gallan AJ, Antic T. Benign müllerian glandular inclusions in men undergoing pelvic lymph node dissection. Hum Pathol. 2016;57:136–139. - PubMed

Publication types