This is now the second half of the 1980s, I’ve been a consultant surgical pathologist at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester since 1980, and I get a phone call from a friend in Malta who says his wife has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and asking me whether I would mind reviewing the histological slides before she starts chemotherapy. No problem – confirming ovarian cancer should be straightforward. This lady was around 50 years old and had consulted her doctor, and then a gynaecologist, because of some pain and redness around her umbilicus. A right ovarian mass was diagnosed and she underwent a bilateral oophorectomy and total hysterectomy. At operation, besides the right ovarian mass and some fluid in the pelvic cavity, a portion of omentum was found stuck in a small umbilical hernia, was extracted from the hernia sac, excised and also sent for pathological examination.peer-reviewe
