Massive anterior chest wall metastasis of ovarian cancer and prolonged survival after treatment: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Although previously uncommon, distant metastases of ovarian cancer are now observed with increasing frequency. Late-appearing metastases to the chest wall, however, are extremely rare; management is controversial and the prognosis is poor.


METHODS
A 51-year-old woman presented with a massive metastatic tumor of the anterior chest wall 10 years after receiving total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for primary ovarian cancer. The extremely large size of the tumor precluded surgical resection. Following successful chemotherapy and local irradiation, however, this patient has achieved long-term survival.


CONCLUSIONS
This report is the first to describe a case of a massive, inoperable chest wall tumor developing as a late metastasis of ovarian cancer. Systemic chemotherapy combined with local irradiation represents effective treatment for such unusual cases.
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Tai-Jan
TJ
Chiu
Yi-Ju
YJ
Chen
Cheng-Hua
CH
Huang
D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D015996:Survival Rate; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy*; D035441:Thoracic Wall