Surgery for ovarian masses during childhood and adolescence: a report of 79 cases

Abstract

Study objective: Abdominal pain is a common symptom in female children and adolescents that may be caused by appendicitis, other gastrointestinal or urological conditions, or gynecological problems. This study evaluates retrospectively the preoperative work-up and the operative treatment of ovarian masses in young girls at our institution.

Settings: The medical records of all female patients aged 17 years or less operated on for an ovarian mass in 1971-1995 at the Tampere University Hospital were reviewed.

Results: Seventy-nine patients were identified. In the 1970's preoperative sonography was done on only 15% of the patients. In the 1990's the figure was 65%. Thirty-seven (47%) of all operations were emergency procedures; of these, 41% were performed by a gynecologist. Seven of the tumors were malignant. Thirty-four patients had a benign neoplasm and 26 had functional ovarian cysts. Eight patients were operated on for an adnexal torsion and four patients had other adnexal conditions. Unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed on 20 patients, unilateral oophorectomy on 12 patients, and ovarian resection on 27 patients. An occasional appendectomy was performed on 37 patients.

Conclusions: Surgery for benign neoplasms and functional lesions seems to be too extensive. This is likely to be due to inadequate preoperative work-up and to the fact that many of the operations were performed on an emergency basis and by non-gynecologists. A gynecological examination with sonography should be included in the diagnostic work-up of a young girl's abdominal complaints. With a proper preoperative work-up adequate treatment, which often consists of expectation, can be chosen for the patient and subsequent problems related to fertility and abdominal complaints can be avoided.