A second primary malignancy in a cohort of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer - characteristics of diagnosis

As the life expectancy of cancer patients has been extended because of earlier diagnosis and improved therapeutic modalities, second primary tumors are being diagnosed more frequently. We have examined the clinical characteristics of 38 second primary tumors in a cohort of patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer in our department over a 6-year period. The most frequent neoplasm associations were in decreasing order of oocurrence: ovary-breast, ovary-endometrium, and ovary-gastro-intestinal tract. Most heterochronous second primary tumors have been diagnosed following patient symptoms and not during routine follow-up of patients with a known primary cancer. Family history was obtained for 30/38 patients (19 with full pedigrees and 11 with partial information). Two of these 30 patients (6.6%) had one affected first degree relative - one with ovarian cancer and one with breast cancer. With an increased risk of developing a second malignancy after having a previous tumor, closer surveillance of patients post-treatment for cancer is warranted.