Ovarian Cancer during Pregnancy: A Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract

Ovarian cancer during pregnancy is a rare event. Little is known about the treatment of this condition due to lack of prospective randomized trials and cohort studies. In this paper the authors reported a rare case of small cells ovarian cancer, diagnosed at 16 weeks of gestation, treated with conservative surgery at 18 weeks and chemotherapy. At week 38, the patient underwent caesarean section and delivered a healthy baby girl. Staging surgery was then carried out followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Thus the findings from this case concluded that prognosis and quality of the patient’s life should be a priority, chemotherapy during the second trimester seems to be safe however, potential risks of this interventions still has to be considered.

Laparoscopic Surgery During Pregnancy: A Meta-Review and Quality Analysis Using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2 Instrument

“…However, one should be cautious in any attempt to extrapolate these recommendations to other pathologies, since the natural course and medium- and long-term complications of the disease are not shared between appendicitis and other benign entities, including (but not limited to) cholecystitis, biliary calculi, complicated abdominal wall hernias, and adnexal torsion. Certainly, other entities with different biological behavior, like cancer, warrant an entirely different approach and management, though available evidence on laparoscopic management during pregnancy is scarce, largely because of the rarity of visceral malignancies coinciding with pregnancy [ 51 - 53 ].…”

A Rare Case of Advanced-Stage Small Cell Carcinoma of the Ovary Identified During the Third Trimester of Pregnancy

“…The development of ovarian cancer in pregnancy is a rare occurrence [ 5 , 6 ]. One literature review states that ovarian cancer is diagnosed during pregnancy in approximately one in 15,000 to one in 32,000 pregnancies [ 7 ].…”