Surgeon’s report - struggling to understand what it means

Dear Glass Not Full ,

Thank you for getting in touch and welcome to the online community, I hope you find it supportive. My name is Gillian and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.

I am sorry to hear you have unanswered questions following your recent surgery, for removal of an ovarian mass I hope your recovery is going well.

Here at Macmillan, we have no links with the NHS or your medical notes, so we are only able to comment in general terms from the information you have shared.  

When something is said to be adherent to the tumour capsule, it means the tumour is tightly attached to surrounding tissue, in your case the distal ileum. The distal ileum is the last section of the small intestine. To gain more insight into how much of an impact this has had on your bowel we would suggest you contact your treatment team at the hospital. They are in the best place to answer your questions as they are directly involved in your care and have a full understanding of your situation and can review your medical notes. It may be helpful to write down your questions so you can gain a full understand of your concerns. This Questions to ask your health care team can help plan your conversation.

I see you have joined our Ovarian cancer forum on our online community, I hope you are finding this helpful. Target Ovarian Cancer also has a wide range of support.

I hope this information is helpful.  You can always call one of our nurses directly if you want to talk over your concerns or require any further support.

Best wishes 

Gillian, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or email us. 

Ref:LM/GG

Thank you Gillian - that’s really helpful.

im told it doesn’t really affect my bowel as it was a small “patch”.

As the tumour was attached though, would that mean that the tumour wouldn’t be considered as confined to only the ovary now? Presumably not?

obviously i appreciate you can’t comment specifically but generally speaking, if the tumour attaches to something else, however little, then it wouldn’t be considered to be confined to just the ovary?

Hi Glass Not Full 

My name is Joanne and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line . I’m glad that you found Gillian’s information helpful.

A tumour capsule is a thin layer of tissue that surrounds a tumour and results in what is called an encapsulated tumour. Not every cancerous tumour has a capsule.

We still don’t know fully understand exactly how cancers grow but when you speak to your team, they should be able to provide further explanation about the location of your tumour in relation to the wall of the bowel and what this means in terms of future planning and monitoring.

I hope this provides you with a little more information and I hope that you get to talk to your team soon for further clarity.

Please let us know if there is anything else that we can help with.

Ref JH/CF