Thecomas or theca cell tumors are
benign
Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse; the term is most familiar as a characterization of cancer.
A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous benign tumor, ''benign'' tumor in that a malig ...
ovarian neoplasms composed only of
theca cells. Histogenetically they are classified as
sex cord-stromal tumours.
They are typically
estrogen
Estrogen (also spelled oestrogen in British English; see spelling differences) is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three ...
-producing and they occur in older
women
A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl.
Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
(mean age 59; 84% after
menopause
Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time when Menstruation, menstrual periods permanently stop, marking the end of the Human reproduction, reproductive stage for the female human. It typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 5 ...
). (They can, however, appear before menopause.
)
60% of patients present with
abnormal uterine bleeding, and 20% have
endometrial carcinoma
Endometrial cancer is a cancer that arises from the endometrium (the lining of the uterus or womb). It is the result of the abnormal growth of cells that can invade or spread to other parts of the body. The first sign is most often vaginal ...
.
Pathologic features
Grossly, the tumour is solid and yellow.
Grossly and microscopically, it consists of the ovarian cortex.
Microscopically, the tumour cells have abundant
lipid
Lipids are a broad group of organic compounds which include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include storing ...
-filled
cytoplasm
The cytoplasm describes all the material within a eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, including the organelles and excluding the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. The material inside the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell a ...
.
References
External links
Gynaecological neoplasia
{{oncology-stub