High cellularity and mitotic activity in a primary ovarian fibro-thecomatous tumor of a young patient: a diagnostic and clinical challenge.

Purpose ofInvestigation: Solid ovarian tumors represent a clinical challenge, in particular in case of young patients who require a fertility sparing treatment. The authors report a case of hypercellular mitotically active ovarian fibrothecoma in a very young woman, successfully treated with a fertility sparing surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 21-year-old nulliparous woman presented at the present hospital with a 14-cm right ovarian mass, consisting of solid and pseudo-cystic components. There was neither an elevation of tumor markers nor evidence of metastatic disease. A laparotomic right salpingo-oophorectomy was performed. Uterus and left adnexa were preserved.

RESULTS: The neoplasm consisted of a prevalent population of spindle-shaped elements and of a minor component of cells with wider cytoplasms, attributable to a thecomatous differentiation. The mitotic activity was focally elevated. Cytological atypia was mild to focally moderate. Clear areas of coagulative necrosis were not observed. At present 48 months after surgery, the patient is alive with no evidence of recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS: The authors reported the lesion as a hypercellular and mitotically active fibrothecoma. The uneventful follow-up confirms the low malignant potential of the lesion. Caution is required reporting hypercellular stromal ovarian tu- mors, in order to avoid overdiagnosis and overtreatment, particularly in young patients.