Colon carcinoma with synchronous ovarian metastasis - report and discussion of five cases

Ovarian metastasis may present at the time of initial diagnosis of colon ca rcinoma or as a later recurrence. Little meaningful information is availabl e regarding the treatment and outcome of synchronous ovarian metastasis of colon carcinoma. This report describes the clinical course of five patients with synchronous ovarian metastasis of colon carcinoma who were treated wi th aggressive surgery and chemotherapy. The treatment consisted of maximal surgical debulking followed by systemic chemotherapy with weekly 24 h infus ion of high-dose 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin. All of the five patients ha d subsequent disease-free periods ranging from 6 to 43+ months following op eration. Two of the patients who had no or minimal peritoneal involvement w ere still alive without disease at 33 and 43 months. The data from these ca ses suggest that aggressive surgery and systemic chemotherapy may be highly efficacious in the treatment of colon carcinoma with synchronous ovarian m etastasis. Maximal debulking followed by chemotherapy may be particularly e ffective in those patients with minimal peritoneal involvement. [(C) 2000 L ippincott Williams & Wilkins.].