Cytologic diagnosis of small cell carcinoma of the ovary: A case report with review of the literature

Abstract

Small cell carcinoma of the ovary (SCCO) is an exceedingly rare malignant neoplasm. It has been classified into two types: hypercalcemic and pulmonary type, the former being relatively more common. These are highly aggressive neoplasms with rapid down‐hill course and poor disease‐outcome. A high index of clinical suspicion, systematic radiological evaluation, and an early tissue diagnosis are a must for timely patient management and a better outcome. A definitive diagnosis can be established by demonstration of the characteristic morphologic and immunochemical features. We report a case of SCCO of pulmonary type in a peri‐menopausal female, presenting with a large abdomino‐pelvic mass, which was diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), by immunocytochemistry on cell‐block. In addition, cytological features of metastatic SCCO, pulmonary type, in the Papanicolaou stained liquid‐based cytology (SurePath) preparation are also presented. The current report highlights the diagnostic utility of FNAC in the diagnosis of such rare gynecological malignancies.

Ovarian pulmonary‐type small cell carcinoma diagnosed by means of ascitic fluid cytology: A case report with immunocytochemical analysis

“…There have been many reports of primary ovarian small cell carcinoma. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have only been three reports with cytological findings 5‐7 . Although the morphologies in these reports and ours were similar, the diagnostic methods used were different.…”

“…Fine needle aspiration was used in the third report. Further, immunocytochemistry with cell blocks, and not a smear was performed 6 . In addition to our cytological findings, our report is the first to report the definitive diagnosis of SCCOPT using immunocytochemical analysis, which excluded lung cancer metastasis with TTF‐1 testing.…”

“…Owing to the rarity of SCCOPT, there is no clear consensus on the treatment. To our knowledge, fewer than 30 cases of SCCOPT have been reported so far, and only three case studies have reported its cytological findings 5‐7 . Here, we report an extraordinarily rare case of SCCOPT in a woman in her 50s who was accurately diagnosed with cytological findings.…”

Ultrasound‐guided fine needle aspiration of ovarian masses: Assessment of diagnostic accuracy and risk stratification using a categorical reporting system

“…There were four cases of small cell carcinoma of the ovary reported on corresponding histopathological examination. Of these, the cytological aspirates were inadequate for interpretation in two cases, and in the other two cases ICC on the cell‐blocks helped to establish a definite diagnosis of small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT)/ malignant rhabdoid tumour of the ovary in one and pulmonary type (SCCOPT) in the other 9,10 . There was one case reported on cytology as a malignant neoplasm, with possibilities of non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma and small cell carcinoma of the ovary.…”

A sub‐hepatic nodule in a young female: Chase the case

“…A thorough knowledge of the cardinal cytomorphologic features and a panel of immunochemical markers is invaluable in such situations. 2,3,7,8 The well-differentiated SLCTs show immunopositivity for ste- In the index patient, the cytologic smears from the sub-hepatic mass were cellular and showed large tissue fragments, loose aggregates and dispersed population of tumour cells. These tumour cells were large in size, polygonal in shape with fine granular chromatin, occasional conspicuous nucleoli and moderate to abundant amount of coarsely vacuolated cytoplasm (Figure 2).…”