Serous tumour

They are common neoplasms with a strong tendency to occur bilaterally, and they account for approximately a quarter of all ovarian tumors.

Benign tumors contain clear fluid and have a smooth lining composed of columnar epithelial cells with cilia.

Serous psammocarcinoma is a low grade variant in which massive psammoma bodies are present.

[3] Serous carcinomas often have bulky peritoneal and omental metastases, and spread to the lymph nodes is frequent.

Beginning in the year 2000, the fallopian tube, specifically the fimbriated end, has emerged as an origin for many "ovarian" high-grade serous carcinomas.

[5] Uterine serous carcinoma is an uncommon form of endometrial cancer that typically arises in postmenopausal women.

Histopathology of invasive low-grade serous carcinoma of ovary with typical features. H&E stain. The left image shows lower magnification, including inverted macropapillae which are with broad fibrovascular cores surrounded by clear (white) clefts. Invasion (characterized by small irregular nests to single cells) should be over 5 mm in size to distinguish it from a borderline serous tumor. Calcifications often form psammoma bodies. Right picture shows higher magnification, including hobnailing which is individual cells protruding into the lumen of glands. Cells may have up to moderate atypia: They may have conspicuous nucleoli, and up to 3x variation in nuclear sizes compared to each other. More atypical features indicate a high-grade serous carcinoma. [ 2 ]
A high-grade serous carcinoma arising from a borderline serous tumor :
A. Low-magnification view shows a focal high-grade serous carcinoma developing from the papillae (square) in a background of a typical serous borderline tumor.
B. Higher magnification demonstrates enlarged and atypical high-grade serous carcinoma cells that organize in a papillary architecture.
C and D. Immunohistochemistry of p53 shows that high-grade serous carcinoma cells are diffusely positive for p53, a pattern consistent with a missense TP53 mutation while the adjacent epithelial cells from the background serous borderline tumor are only focally and weakly positive, a pattern consistent with a wild-type TP53 sequence. [ 4 ]