Malignant reticuloendothelial disease involving the ovary as a primary manifestation. A Series of 19 Lymphomas and 1 Granulocytic Sarcoma

Abstract

Lymphoma and leukemia infiltrates presenting in the ovary as the initial manifestation have been reported only rarely. This study describes the clinical and pathologic findings in 19 patients with unrecognized lymphoma and 1 patient with an extramedullary neoplasm of poorly differentiated granulocytes (granulocytic sarcoma), all presenting as ovarian tumors. of the 20 patients, 10 had Stage I lesions and 10 had lesions of Stages II through IV, according to the FIGO staging system for ovarian cancer. Survival varied with the stage, as the median survival for patients with Stage I presentation was 11 months, but only 7 months for patients with neoplasms of Stages II-IV. The poor prognosis for patients with a Stage I presentation (tumor confined to one or both ovaries) contrasts with reports of extranodal lymphoma. The explanation may lie in inadequate initial staging. The possibility of the existence of a true primary extranodal lymphoma is discussed with reference to a patient with nodular lymphoma surviving 17 years.