An autopsy case of serous papillary carcinoma of peritoneum with distant metastases but no peritoneal dissemination.

A case of a 61-year-old woman who had a serous papillary carcinoma of probable peritoneal or surface ovarian origin, which formed a single tumor mass in the pelvis but did not metastasize throughout the abdominal cavity but only to the pleura and then the hilar lymph nodes over a protracted period lasting more than 7 years, is reported. This unusually behaving tumor was well differentiated and at least partially responded to therapy, as witnessed by its histologic appearance at autopsy. This type of neoplasm usually shows diffuse peritoneal dissemination and no distant metastasis.