A WOMAN was recently diagnosed with a Sister Mary Joseph nodule and was confirmed to have developed ovarian cancer, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported. The woman, surnamed Peng, first mistook the palpable nodule bulging into her umbilicus as a protruding mole. Later, the young mother went to a hospital for an examination. She was told she had advanced urachal carcinoma, and that the tumors had spread to different parts of her abdomen. However, when Peng went to the Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medicine Sciences, Shenzhen Center, for a consultation, doctors there held different views about whether she had urachal carcinoma. After a multidisciplinary discussion, the doctors from the hospital’s urology, ultrasono-graphy and gynecology departments suspected that Peng was suffering from an umbilical metastasis of ovarian cancer. When a biopsy was taken from Peng’s pelvic mass, the result of the test confirmed that she had developed ovarian cancer. Peng was transferred from the urology department to the gynecology department, where she received targeted chemotherapy. The treatment turned out to be effective, as the metastatic lymphatic nodes had basically disappeared and the pelvic tumors had also been reduced. Later, she underwent a surgery to have the remaining pelvic tumors removed. The Sister Mary Joseph nodule is a conspicuous nodule that bulges into the umbilicus as a result of metastasis of malignant cancer in the pelvis or abdomen. The disease is often misdiagnosed as it is quite rare. However, patients can achieve better results with early diagnosis and targeted treatment. (Zhang Yu) |