Solitary splenic metastasis of ovarian cancer

Background: Solitary splenic metastasis occurs relatively rarely in ovarian cancer. Case report: This report presents a patient in whom a solitary splenic metastasis was detected 9 years after diagnosis of stage Ic ovarian cancer. The patient was a 59-year-old woman who was diagnosed with stage Ic ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma in 1992, underwent postoperative chemotherapy, and exhibited no signs of recurrence in terms of clinical symptoms, markers and imaging findings. However, in 2001, a mass was detected in the upper left abdominal region. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggested a malignant splenic tumor and CA125 levels were elevated at 485 U/ml. The patient underwent a splenectomy and microscopy confirmed the splenic tumor to be of the same histological type as the ovarian cancer. After the splenectomy, CA125 levels decreased markedly and six courses of paclitaxel-carboplatin were administered. At present (60 months post splenectomy), the patient remains disease-free. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.