AN UNUSUAL OVARIAN TUMOR CONTAINING LEYDIG CELLS BUT ASSOCIATED WITH ENDOMETRIAL HYPERPLASIA, IN A POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMAN

Abstract

OVARIAN tumors containing cellular elements characteristic of the male gonad have been generally considered to fall into two categories from an endocrinologic viewpoint: a) androgenic, and b) nonfunctional. Only recently have the estrogenic potentialities of these tumors been suggested (1). The following case is one of an ovarian tumor which appeared to be estrogenic in spite of its content of large numbers of Leydig cells. Clinical history. A. O'D. (M.G.H. #13086), a 64-year-old widow, mother of one child who died in infancy, was admitted to the hospital because of bloody vaginal discharge of several days' duration. Her irenopause had occurred twenty years before. There had been no subsequent bleeding until two years prior to entry, when an episode similar to the presenting one had taken place. The past history had been otherwise unremarkable. The findings on physical examination were essentially negative, except for an enlarged uterus. Following the examination bright blood emanated from the cervical os. The blood pressure was 150 systolic and 80 diastolic. The red blood count was 4,330,000. A dilatation and curettage specimen revealed cystic hyperplasia of the endometrium and a small focus of adenocarcinoma (Figs. 1 and 2).