Treatment of a case of primary retroperitoneal mucinous cystadenocarcinoma: is adjuvant hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy justified?

Abstract

We present a case of primary retroperitoneal mucinous cystadenocarcinoma in a 38-year-old woman. The tumor was resected with a segment of adjacent descending colon. Five years after the operation, the patient is well, without evidence of recurring disease, based on clinical investigation and modern imaging techniques. In the light of the literature, it appears most likely that this rare tumor is caused by coelomic metaplasia. On the basis of the histopathologic findings in our case and the reports from the literature, we recommend radical tumor excision en bloc with all infiltrated adjacent structures. Added removal of unaffected uterus and adnexes makes young women infertile and climacteric and is not yet validated by long-term results.