The Sister (Mary) Joseph nodule: its significance in gynecology.

Twenty-five cases of metastatic carcinoma of the umbilicus in women diagnosed and treated at Emory University Hospitals from 1973 to 1989 were reviewed, as were all previously reported cases in the English language literature. In our series, overall survival was greatest in patients treated with aggressive surgery and chemotherapy, compared with patients receiving no therapy or those treated with either surgery or adjunctive therapy alone. Individual survival was enhanced when the primary tumor site was of ovarian origin.