Abstract

An ovarian hepatoid carcinoma associated with minimal alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) production is described. The tumor involved both ovaries, and had metastasized to the omentum, uterus and retroperitoneal lymph nodes. The neoplastic cells were arranged in sheets, had abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, central nuclei and distinct cellular borders. Despite the morphologic similarity to the histology of a hepatocellular carcinoma, elevation of the serum AFP level was minimal, at 74.0 ng ml⁻¹ (normal range: under 20 ng ml⁻¹), and the value normalized after surgery and subsequent chemotherapy. An immunohistochemical technique revealed focal staining for albumin in the tumor tissue and AFP in the uterine metastasis. Since the primary tumor itself did not stain for AFP, it is suggested that there may be hepatoid ovarian carcinomas without AFP production, a situation found in some hepatocellular carcinomas.