Meigs syndrome with blood-stained effusion.

in 1937 Meigs and Cass described the case of a patient with ascites and hydrothorax in association with a benign ovarian tumour in which removal of the tumour relieved the patient of the ascites and chest fluid. Later that year Rhoads and Terrell (1937) published a further case and proposed the name Meigs syndrome for this clinical pictture. In 1954 Meigs collected all reports in the English languLage together with a few from the French, Italian, and German literature and reviewed 84 cases which fell within his definition. The importance of this syndrome lies in the fact that it can easily be cured by removal of the ovarian tumour, and this is now well recognized by surg:ons and indeed by general and chest physicians. Nevertheless, blood-staining in the pleural and peritoneal effusions in such a case is a rare feature, and one which normally would be regarded as indicative of malignancy. The purpose of this paper is to record the cases of two patients with this syndrome with haemorrhagic fluid, one of whom was under close observation for over a year, and both of whom were ultimately cured by removal of the tumour.