Adolescent ovarian masses: A retrospective analysis

Abstract

A retrospective study was conducted to review incidence, clinical practice, surgical management and histology of adolescent ovarian masses in order to audit and improve future practices. Complete hospital records of all adolescents between 10 and 20 years who had undergone surgery for ovarian masses were analysed between November 2006 to 2014. Parameters analysed were age, clinical features, diagnosis, operative procedure and histopathology. Ninety-four patients were included in the study and among them, 37 had non-neoplastic masses, 30 had benign neoplasms while 27 had malignant tumors. The main clinical presentations were abdominal pain (54%) and abdominal mass (41%). Dermoid was the most common benign neoplasm while germ cell tumor was the most common malignant mass; dysgerminoma being the commonest (68%). Malignancy was more common in early adolescence (12 ± 4.8 years) while non-neoplastic masses were seen more frequently in late adolescence (17.7 ± 2.2 years). There was a fair correlation between ultrasound and histopathological diagnosis.

Keywords: Adolescence; ovarian malignancy; ovarian tumors.