Krukenberg tumor
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A Krukenberg tumor is the name given to bilateral (in Latin, "both sides" of the body) tumors of the ovaries that, though they may appear to be a primary tumor of the ovary, are always a metastasis from a malignant tumour in another site. Microscopically, it is characterized by appearance of signet-ring cells.
They are named after Friedrich Ernst Krukenberg (1871-1946), a German doctor who first described them as "fibrosarcoma ovarii mucocellulare carcinomatodes".
Although a Krukenberg tumor is most commonly a metastasis from a gastric cancer (usually an adenocarcinoma), this is not always the case. Other tumours of the gastrointestinal tract including, significantly, colon cancer have been known to cause Krukenberg tumours. There is some debate over the exact mechanism of metastasis of the tumour cells from the stomach, appendix or colon to the ovaries; classically it was thought that direct seeding across the peritoneum along with the normal flow of fluid in the abdominal cavity accounted for the spread, but recently some researchers have suggested that lypmhatic (i.e. through the lymph nodes), haematogenous (i.e. through the blood) spread is more likely, as most of these tumours are found on the inside of the ovaries.
Krukenberg tumours always contain mucin-secreting signet-ring cells, and are most commonly seen in elderly females.