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General and Systemic Histopathology, C601&C602
     
    Slide 192: Ovary with papillary adenocarcinoma
     
     
    Your slide consists of a very small strip taken from the wall of a very large cystic tumor.  Don't waste a lot of time trying to find normal ovary, I'm not sure there is any. 

    The malignant epithelium is found lining the cyst and on the surface of the many papillary growths and extensions.  The papillary "head" seen in the picture to the left appears to be "floating"  because when the section  was cut the stalk connecting it to the wall of the cyst was out of the plane of the section.  Trust me, it was connected to the wall.

    Look on the surface of this little "head piece" for the best examples of the malignant epithelium.

    See this slide with the virtual microscope.

    I am not sure how much normal ovary there is on this slide, but trust me it is ovary. The larger papillary projections will have a "detached" and free floating appearance because the microscopic sectioning process has created a "lobbed off" artifactual distortion. This happens frequently with objects that are tall and skinny or pedunculated. This tumor has arisen from the serosal epithelium, can spread widely in the peritoneal cavity and is often bilateral. The cancer cells are on the surface of the papillae.


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