Small cell carcinoma of the ovary: a rapidly lethal tumor occurring in the young.

Two patients with metastatic small cell carcinoma of the ovary managed by the Clinical Gynecologic Oncology Service at Roswell Park Memorial Institute are presented. Despite intensive multimodal therapy after extensive cytoreductive surgery, both patients expired from this rare tumor within 6 months of diagnosis. Neither tumor was associated with hypercalcemia, previously reported in the only existing review of the tumor in the world literature. Because of the highly aggressive nature of this cancer, effective combination chemotherapy must be found if the natural history of this tumor is to be altered.