A Case of Pseudo-Meigs Syndrome Caused by Struma Ovarii Associated with Ascending Colon Cancer

Abstract

We present a case of pseudo-Meigs syndrome caused by struma ovarii associated with ascending colon cancer.
An 85-year-old woman visited our hospital because her stool examination was positive for occult blood. Colonoscopic examination revealed ascending colon cancer. Abdominal CT scan demonstrated a left ovarian tumor, left pleural effusion and massive ascites. Cytodiagnosis of ascites was reported to be Class II. Celiocentesis performed every day was ineffective and ascites was intractable. Carcinomatous peritonitis was considered likely from clinical findings, but we could not rule out a possibility of ascending colon cancer associated with pseudo-Meigs syndrome. We performed ileocecal resection with D2 lymph node dissection and left oophorectomy. The pathological diagnosis of the ovarian tumor was struma ovarii. After surgical resection, pleural effusion and ascites disappeared and no recurrent retention occurred. The final diagnosis was pseudo-Meigs syndrome caused by struma ovarii associated with ascending colon cancer. The patient is alive without any evidence of recurrence as of 7 months postoperatively. It is very rare that a gastrointestinal tumor is associated with struma ovarii presenting with pseudo-Meigs syndrome.