The Challenges of Managing Ovarian Cancer in the Developing World

Ovarian cancer has high morbidity and mortality rates among cancers of the reproductive system. The disease typically presents at late stage when the 5-year relative survival rate is only 29%. Similarly, access to prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care for cancer-related disease is insufficient. The availability of cancer treatments in Africa is especially poor. Case. A 17-year-old lady, nulliparous, was admitted with complaint of abdominal swelling and loss of weight and a huge left ovarian cyst revealed by ultrasound scan. Laparotomy was done, and a mass which resembled a hemorrhagic solid tumor was found. Grossly, the left ovarian mass measured 15.0×20.0×8.0 cm and a left salpingectomy was performed. Two months later, she came back with lower limb swelling progressively increased in a week with vulvar edema, with a palpable mass. She was discharged on request by her relatives for traditional medicine. One year later, she passed on in an unrevealed picture. The management of ovarian cancer is too challenging in low-resource countries, from hospital settings to the communities with poor cancer awareness. It is therefore imperative that healthcare resources, policies, and planning focus to be coordinated in a rational way

Spontaneous Massive Vulvar Edema in Pregnancy: A Case Report

Spontaneous massive vulvar edema in pregnancy is unusual and a cause for concern. This condition should be taken seriously since it might be caused by some conditions such as preeclampsia, diabetes, vulvovaginitis, severe anemia, and neoplasms. We report a case of massive vulvar edema in a 15-year-old primigravida following tocolysis therapy at 33 weeks of gestation. Other causes of vulvar edema were excluded. The vulvar edema appeared spontaneously after tocolysis and rapidly increased in size, associated with severe vulvar pains. The vulvar edema resolved progressively with antibiotics, corticoids, and analgesics. The patient delivered by spontaneous vaginal delivery a term live newborn with an unremarkable postpartum period. The aim of this report is to alert clinicians that conservative attempts could be considered for vulvar edema complicating tocolysis