A curious discourse of Krukenberg tumor: a case report

In the year 1896 Krukenberg presented five cases of peculiar ovarian tumor having appearance of malignant cells as new type of primary ovarian sarcomas which he named “fibrosarcoma ovarii mucocellulare (carcinomatodes)” (1,2). In his thesis he proposed it as a primary tumor of ovary, but latter it was proved to be nearly always secondary to gastrointestinal (GI) tract malignancy particularly stomach (3). However, there have been rare and isolated cases which have been interpreted as primary tumors. Other primary GI organs responsible are colon, biliary system, jejunum, and pancreas. Non GI organs like breast, uterine endometrium, thyroid, kidney and lungs are also found to be of primary malignancy rarely (4). Nearly 80% cases are bilateral. Histologically these are usually poorly differentiated intestinal type adenocarcinoma with or without signet ring cells, sometimes producing mucins (5). It is considered as a metastatic disease with very poor prognosis. Till date optimal treatment has not been established, and it is still uncertain whether surgical resection of ovarian metastases and/or the primary could help. We report a rare presentation of gastric carcinoma with ovarian metastasis with particular importance to its management decision