Primary peritoneal carcinoma – pro
The peritoneum is a serous lining of mesothelial cells with rich vascular and lymphatic capillary network that covers the abdominal and pelvic walls and organs. Peritoneal neoplasia can originate de novo from the peritoneal tissues (primary) or invade or metastasize into the peritoneum from adjacent or remote organs (secondary).
Primary peritoneal carcinoma (ie, serous surface papillary carcinoma) arises primarily from peritoneal cells. The mesothelium of the peritoneum and the germinal epithelium of the ovary arise from the same embryologic origin; therefore, the peritoneum may retain the multipotentiality allowing the development of a primary carcinoma.
This rare malignancy predominantly affects postmenopausal women typically with multicentric peritoneal and omental involvement. It resembles papillary serous ovarian carcinoma in pathological and clinical aspects. This malignancy is differentiated from its ovarian counterpart by the fact that it involves the extraovarian peritoneum significantly and the ovarian surface minimally or not at all. Extensive calcification or omental caking is present in many cases and is a useful CT finding to exclude mesothelioma. The absence of an ovarian mass is critical for excluding metastatic papillary serous ovarian carcinoma, which otherwise has a similar CT appearance.
Treatment of this malignancy is very similar to that of epithelial ovarian cancer, which includes combination chemotherapy after optimal cytoreductive surgery. Doxil or topotecan would be appropriate second line treatments.
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