| Brenner tumor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A Brenner tumor of ovary (gross image). | |
| Specialty | Gynaecology,oncology |
Brenner tumours are an uncommon subtype of thesurface epithelial-stromal tumour group ofovarian neoplasms. The majority arebenign, but some can bemalignant.[1]
They are most frequently found incidentally onpelvic examination or atlaparotomy.[2] Brenner tumours very rarely can occur in other locations, including thetestes.[3]
On grosspathological examination, they are solid, sharply circumscribed and pale yellow-tan in colour. 90% are unilateral (arising in one ovary, the other is unaffected). The tumours can vary in size from less than 1 centimetre (0.39 in) to 30 centimetres (12 in). Borderline and malignant Brenner tumours are possible but each are rare.
Histologically, there are nests oftransitional epithelial (urothelial) cells with longitudinal nuclear grooves (coffee bean nuclei) lying in abundant fibrous stroma.
The coffee bean nuclei are the nuclear grooves exceptionally pathognomonic to the sex cord stromal tumour, the ovarian granulosa cell tumour, with the fluid-filled spacesCall–Exner bodies between the granulosa cells.[4][5]
Transitional cell carcinoma is an even rarer entity, in which neoplastic transitional epithelial cells similar to transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder are seen in the ovary, without the characteristic stromal/epithelial pattern of a Brenner tumour.
Histologically,Leydig cell tumours of the testes and ovarian stromal Leydig cell tumours (ovarian hyperandrogenism and virilization) both have characteristicReinke crystals. The same crystals were also noted under high-power view in Brenner tumours.[6]
It is named forFritz Brenner (1877–1969), a German surgeon who characterized it in 1907.[7] The term "Brenner tumour" was first used byRobert Meyer, in 1932.[8]
