Small bowel adenocarcinoma metastatic to the ovaries in a 12-year-old girl.

PURPOSE

Small bowel adenocarcinoma is a rare cancer and usually occurs in elderly males. A 12-year-old girl with metastatic small bowel adenocarcinoma and her clinical course are described. The difficulties in making the pathologic diagnosis and the literature are also reviewed.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A 12-year-old girl had partial small bowel obstruction and bilateral ovarian enlargement. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a jejunal tumor with bilateral ovarian involvement and extensive peritoneal and pelvic studding. The pathologic diagnosis of small bowel adenocarcinoma was made.

RESULTS

The patient had a moderate response to therapy with 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and alpha-interferon before developing progressive disease unresponsive to therapy with topotecan, taxol, or carboplatin. She survived for 23 months after diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Making an accurate diagnosis of tumors metastatic to the ovary can be difficult and requires attention to histologic detail. Small bowel adenocarcinoma is usually a chemoresistant tumor with extremely poor outcome. This patient had a moderate response to chemotherapy and a prolonged survival compared to that of patients previously reported.