CLEAR-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE OVARY IN A 19-YEAR-OLD WOMAN

The risk of inadvertently treating an ovarian malignancy is always pre sent regardless of the patient's age, clinical history, ultrasound fea tures, serum tumour markers, menopausal status and intraoperative find ings. This risk can be minimized by paying particular attention to hig h-risk characteristics in any of the above assessment criteria and by obtaining an intraoperative frozen section if there is any suspicion o f malignancy. The same approach should be used whether the initial tre atment is by laparotomy or laparoscopy. We present a case of clear-cel l carcinoma of the ovary in a 19-year-old woman where there was delay in diagnosis and treatment as a result of an incorrect initial histopa thology assessment. This appears to be the youngest patient reported i n the literature with a clear-cell carcinoma of the ovary.