Ovarian tumors in children and adolescents--a clinical study of 52 patients in a university hospital.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To review the clinical presentation of ovarian tumors in children and adolescents treated at the University of Dammam and King Fahad University Hospital. DESIGN: Data of the patients was noted retrospectively from the hospital medical records regarding age, presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. SETTING: The study was carried out in the Ob/Gyn department at King Fahad Hospital of Dammam University, Saudi Arabia between January 1985 and December 2009. PARTICIPANTS: There were 52 patients between 6 and 20 years of age who presented with an ovarian tumor during the study period. INTERVENTION: Preoperative diagnostic approach included history, physical examination, ultrasonography, radiological examination, tumor markers, operative treatment, and histopathological examination of the tumor. Chemotherapy was given to patients where indicated. RESULTS: The main presenting symptom was abdominal pain in 30 (58%) patients. Of the neoplastic tumors, 87% were germ cell tumors, of which 73% were benign while 13% were malignant. Operative procedures included 48 (92%) exploratory laparotomies and 4 (8%) laparoscopic resections. Ovarian cystectomy was done in 23 (44%) patients and salpingoophorectomy in 28 (54%) patients. Of the 7 (13%) patients with malignant tumors, five received postoperative chemotherapy. Three patients with malignancy died in the series. CONCLUSION: Early diagnosis of ovarian masses in young girls is important. Since most of these masses are benign, operation should be designed to optimize future fertility, while the treatment of malignant tumors would involve complete staging, resection of the tumor, postoperative chemotherapy when indicated, to give the patient a chance for future childbearing.

Ovarian tumors associated with pregnancy: a 20-year experience in a teaching hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Pregnancy associated with ovarian tumors was reviewed over a 20-year period to determine the maternal and fetal outcome in patients undergoing surgery during pregnancy. METHOD: A retrospective study of 94 cases of ovarian tumors treated surgically during pregnancy was investigated for incidence, clinico-pathological features and outcome in a teaching hospital between June 1987 and May 2007. RESULTS: The overall incidence of ovarian tumor in pregnant women was 1 in 505 (0.2%) deliveries. Diagnosis of 69.2% tumors resulted in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Twenty-two (23.4%) patients presented as an emergency at different periods of gestation and 16 (17.1%) tumors were incidentally discovered at cesarean section which underlines the significance of examining the ovaries routinely at cesarean section. Benign teratoma (39.4%) and serous cystadenoma (24.5%) were the most common types of ovarian tumors found in the study. The incidence of malignant tumors was 5.3%. Tumors with low malignant potential comprised 40% of malignancy. The miscarriage rate after surgery was 44.4% in the first trimester compared with 16.6% in the second trimester. The preterm birth rate was 4.3% in the series. CONCLUSION: The value of clinical and ultrasound examinations in early pregnancy as a diagnostic aid is highlighted. Whenever an ovarian tumor is detected in pregnancy, malignancy should always be suspected. Treatment of an ovarian tumor in pregnancy should be tailored according to the age, parity, clinical presentation, gestational age and histopathology of the tumor. Removal of persisting or enlarging ovarian masses as soon as possible is important to obtain a final histologic diagnosis and rule out malignancy. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of malignant tumors offers the best prognosis for the patient.