Epithelial ovarian tumors differential diagnosis

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Hannan Javed, M.D.[2]

Overview

On the basis of age of onset, vaginal discharge, and constitutional symptoms, ovarian cancer must be differentiated from tubo-ovarian abscess, ectopic pregnancy, hydrosalpinx, salpingitis, fallopian tube carcinoma, uterine leiomyoma, choriocarcinoma, leiomyosarcoma, pregnancy, appendiceal abscess, appendiceal neoplasm, diverticular abscess, colorectal cancer, pelvic kidney, advanced bladder cancer, and retroperitoneal sarcoma.

Differentiating ovarian cancer from other Diseases

Differentiating ovarian cancer from other diseases on the basis of age of onset, vaginal discharge and constitutional symptoms

On the basis of age of onset, vaginal discharge, and constitutional symptoms, ovarian cancer must be differentiated from tubo-ovarian abscess, ectopic pregnancy, hydrosalpinx, salpingitis, fallopian tube carcinoma, uterine leiomyoma, choriocarcinoma, leiomyosarcoma, pregnancy, appendiceal abscess, appendiceal neoplasm, diverticular abscess, colorectal cancer, pelvic kidney, advanced bladder cancer, and retroperitoneal sarcoma.

Diseases		Clinical manifestations						Para-clinical findings				Gold standard	Additional findings
		Age of onset	Symptoms			Physical examination
								Lab Findings	Imaging		Immunohistopathology
			pelvic/abdominal pain or pressure	vaginal bleeding/discharge	GI dysturbance	Fever	Tenderness		CT scan/US	MRI
Gynecologic
Ovarian	Follicular cysts	Women in reproductive age (15 -45 y/o)	+/–	–	–	–	+/–	High level of estrogen +/–	In US we may see a >3 cm simple cyst with no internal echo and with posterior acoustic enhancement	simple cyst with no internal echo or septa	References