Premium
Metastatic ovarian carcinoma to the brain: An approach to identification and classification for neuropathologists
Author(s) -
Nafisi Houman,
Cesari Matthew,
Karamchandani Jason,
Balasubramaniam Gayathiri,
Keith Julia Lee
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
neuropathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1440-1789
pISSN - 0919-6544
DOI - 10.1111/neup.12172
Subject(s) - medicine , ovarian carcinoma , brain metastasis , metastatic carcinoma , serous carcinoma , pathology , carcinoma , serous fluid , malignancy , metastasis , stage (stratigraphy) , carcinosarcoma , ovarian carcinomas , oncology , ovarian cancer , cancer , biology , paleontology
Brain metastasis is an uncommon but increasing manifestation of ovarian epithelial carcinoma and neuropathologists' collective experience with these tumors is limited. We present clinicopathological characteristics of 13 cases of brain metastases from ovarian epithelial carcinoma diagnosed at two academic institutions. The mean ages at diagnosis of the ovarian carcinoma and their subsequent brain metastases were 58.7 and 62.8 years, respectively. At the time of initial diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma the majority of patients had an advanced stage and none had brain metastases as their first manifestation of malignancy. Brain metastases tended to be multiple with ring‐enhancing features on neuroimaging. Primary tumors and their brain metastases were all high‐grade histologically and the histologic subtypes were: nine high‐grade serous carcinoma ( HGSC ) cases, two clear cell carcinoma ( CCC ) cases and a single case each of carcinosarcoma and high‐grade adenocarcinoma. A recommended histo‐ and immunopathological approach to these tumours are provided to aid neuropathologists in the recognition and classification of metastatic ovarian carcinoma to the brain.