Morphological effects of chemotherapy on ovarian carcinoma

Abstract

Because preoperative chemotherapy is being used increasingly in the management of ovarian cancer, pathologists should be aware of the resultant morphological effects. Accurate tumour typing and grading is impossible. In some cases, it may be difficult to confirm the presence of residual tumour, making it imperative that pre-chemotherapy tissue biopsies are obtained. Definite confirmation of residual tumour may require the examination of multiple histological sections from areas showing pronounced stromal changes, sometimes with multiple levels and immunohistochemistry. In the absence of definite residual tumour, the report should state that the features are consistent with the prior presence of tumour.