Ovarian ependymoma. A case report

We present the case of a 30-year-old woman who was referred to our institut ion with an erroneous diagnosis of poorly differentiated carcinoma of the o vary. The patient presented pelvic pain for one year prior to surgery. A se cond laparotomy revealed a bilateral pure ovarian ependymoma that infiltrat ed the uterus and presented implants on the omentum. Differential diagnosis included mainly endometrioid and small cell carcinoma of the ovary. Presen ce of typical ependymal rosettes and positivity to GFAP confirmed the diagn osis of ependymoma. Other teratomatous elements were not observed. Ovarian ependymomas are rare tumors; only eight cases, to our knowledge, have been reported in the literature. They have a favorable prognosis; patients with advanced stage disease are reported alive and well after treatment with sur gery and chemotherapy.