Meigs' syndrome is a condition in which certain benign tumors of the ovary are accompanied by ascites and hydrothorax, resembling clinically a malignant tumor with metastases to the peritoneum and pleura. However, after removal of the tumor the patient is cured and the effusions disappear spontaneously. The reporting of two additional cases seems warranted because the effusions were hemorrhagic (only ten such cases have been recorded), and because the tumors were not ovarian but uterine. Moreover there was no ascites but merely a pleural effusion in both instances. Finally, we believe the definition of Meigs' syndrome is too restrictive and we propose that it should be broadened and perhaps renamed.
Patient Summaries
Patient 1.
—A 48-year-old woman was admitted to New York Polyclinic Hospital on Sept 20, 1968, complaining of cough of several months' duration and swelling of the abdomen of two years' duration. There were physical signs of fluid