No abstract

A 62-year old woman with a complaint of abdominal distention underwent surgery to remove a tumor in her left ovary. The serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was 4,130 ng/ml. Histologically, the tumor was diagnosed as a mucinous cystadenocarcinoma with a small area of solid proliferation of tumor cells. The cells of the latter part were shown immu nohistochemically to possess AFP. We suppose that a part of the mucinous cystadenocarcinoma dedifferentiates and produces AFP. Acta Pathol Jpn 42: 372-375. 1992. AFP is produced by the fetal liver, yolk sac, and fetal gastrointestinal tract (1). In tumors, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and yolk sac tumor (YST) often produce AFP. However, surface epithelial-stromal tumors of the ovary producing AFP are rarely reported (2, 3). We present a case of ovarian mucinous cystadenocarcinoma with a high level of serum AFP. CLINICAL SUMMARYA 62-year old, gravida 5, para 3, Japanese female, whose uterus, right ovary and fallopian tube had been resected because of leiomyoma of the uterus at the age of 46, admitted with a complaint of abdominal fullness and loss of weight. She underwent left salpingo-oophorectomy, omentectomy and resection of lymph nodes due to the tumor in the left ovary. A t surgery, meta-