Case report offers insight into treatment of rare FATWO tumor.(Gynecology)

EDMONTON, ALTA. -- The case of a female adnexal tumor of probable wolffian origin in a 15-year-old girl may offer insight into a new treatment option for a rare disease. Helen Steed, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.

Usually considered to have low malignant potential, most female adnexal tumors of probable wolffian origin (FATWOs) arise on the broad ligaments, but other reported sites include the rate ovary, paravaginal area, and retroperitoneum.

The patient described by Dr. Steed was the youngest reported to date: a 15-year-old girl who presented with abdominal pain that was at first misdiagnosed as cystitis, and then, following ultrasound, as a dermoid cyst. Further tests revealed a large retroperitoneal and broad ligament mass; at the time of resection 1 month later the tumor was 14 cm by 11 cm by 8 cm.

The pathology revealed a characteristic pattern for FATWO tumors, including solid neoplastic epithelial cells in "closely packed branching tubules," said Dr. Steed, a subspecialty fellow in gynecologic oncology at the University of Toronto.

The tumor recurred at the same site within 2 years and was treated with ...