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CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Gynecological Oncology

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1648580

This article is part of the Research TopicCutting-Edge Strategies in Screening, Prevention, and Treatment in Gynaecologic OncologyView all 6 articles

Hypercalcemic Small Cell Ovarian Carcinoma in Pregnancy: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges

Provisionally accepted
MARTA TRIPEPIMARTA TRIPEPI1Ana G Da CostaAna G Da Costa2Diogo AlbergariaDiogo Albergaria2Andreia CostaAndreia Costa3Ana CatarinoAna Catarino2Ana Luisa DuarteAna Luisa Duarte3Carla BartoschCarla Bartosch4Veronica SchulerVeronica Schuler2Joana OliveiraJoana Oliveira2Jorge LimaJorge Lima2,5João CasanovaJoão Casanova2*
  • 1Azienda Ospedale Universita Padova, Padua, Italy
  • 2Hospital da Luz Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 3Centro Hospitalar Universitario de Sao Joao, Porto, Portugal
  • 4Instituto Portugues de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil EPE, Porto, Portugal
  • 5Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

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Small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT), is a rare, highly aggressive malignancy that predominantly affects young women. We report a 32-year-old pregnant woman diagnosed with SCCOHT during the first trimester. At 24 weeks, imaging revealed extensive peritoneal carcinomatosis. Following multidisciplinary evaluation, neoadjuvant chemotherapy was initiated but the disease progressed. At 34 weeks, the patient underwent cesarean delivery followed by cytoreductive surgery. Despite achieving initial complete resection, the disease recurred rapidly. The patient died shortly after completing adjuvant chemotherapy and initiating immunotherapy. This case highlights the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges of managing SCCOHT in pregnancy and the complex balance of maternal and fetal outcomes. Early diagnosis, coordinated multidisciplinary care, and timely intervention are critical, although the prognosis remains poor despite aggressive multimodal treatment.

Keywords: Small cell ovarian cancer hypercalcemic type, Ovarian Neoplasms, Cancer and pregnancy, Cytoreductive surgery, Rare Ovarian Neoplasms

Received: 17 Jun 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 TRIPEPI, Da Costa, Albergaria, Costa, Catarino, Duarte, Bartosch, Schuler, Oliveira, Lima and Casanova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: João Casanova, Hospital da Luz Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

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