Primary Lymphosarcoma of the Ovary: Report of a Case

Abstract

Lymphoblastoma involving the ovaries, either primarily or secondarily, appears to be a very unusual condition. Less than a dozen instances of metastatic lymphoblastoma have been described. In a review of lymphosarcoma of the female genitalia, published in 1934, Walther 1 records only two primary ovarian lymphosarcomas, one from the literature and one from his own material. Since that time no cases reported by name have appeared. The disease, however, is probably not quite so rare as is suggested by such a survey of the literature. Scattered in text-books, usually under the name of small round-cell sarcoma, can be found a few descriptions and illustrations of tumors which are at least consistent with a diagnosis of lymphosarcoma. However, there does not now seem to be anything to be gained from an attempt to trace and reclassify such obscure cases. Report of Case The patient, a white female aged twenty-three, mother of three healthy children, entered the Mary Fletcher Hospital complaining of rapid enlargement of the abdomen, gradual loss of strength for the past three months, and gas pains for the past four days. The family history and the patient9s own past history were irrelevant. She had last menstruated five and a half months before admission. She knew herself to be pregnant, and for the past three months and a half had been able to feel in the left side of her abdomen a growing mass which she observed to be increasing in size more rapidly than in her previous pregnancies. During this period she had noticeably lost strength.