Laparoscopic splenectomy for solitary splenic metastasis in a patient with ovarian cancer with a long disease-free interval: a case report

BACKGROUND: In general, splenic metastasis of epithelial ovarian cancer is considered a terminal stage resulting in widespread metastasis. Solitary splenic metastasis of epithelial ovarian cancer is rare in patients with post-treatment ovarian cancer with long disease-free intervals. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 62-year-old Japanese woman who presented with elevated serum cancer antigen 125 due to a solitary splenic metastasis of ovarian cancer. She underwent primary open cytoreduction including resection of the right ovarian cancer and postoperative chemotherapy, followed by secondary open cytoreduction and additional postoperative chemotherapy. The disease-free interval was more than 5 years after the additional postoperative chemotherapy. She did not complain of any symptoms and there were no abnormal findings except for elevated cancer antigen 125. However, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a tumor of 6.5 × 4.5 cm in her spleen, and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography showed no other metastatic lesions. Laparoscopic splenectomy was performed as tertiary cytoreduction with a diagnosis of a solitary splenic metastasis. Her elevated cancer antigen 125 immediately decreased to within the normal range after the splenectomy. On microscopic examination, the tumor was grade 3 endometrioid adenocarcinoma localized in the spleen, consistent with the previous grade 3 endometrioid adenocarcinoma ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated cancer antigen 125 is useful for early detection of metastasis of ovarian cancer. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography are useful to evaluate whether splenic metastasis of ovarian cancer is solitary, and laparoscopic splenectomy is safe and feasible for a solitary splenic metastasis.