Clinical characteristics of ovarian teratoma: age-focused retrospective analysis of 580 cases.

Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of ovarian teratoma by age. This was a retrospective study. Five hundred eighty medical records were reviewed from patients who underwent operative removal of ovarian teratomas at Samsung Medical Center between January 1996 and February 2010. The proportion of asymptomatic patients increased significantly after 20 years of age (P = .0006). Ovarian torsion was noted in 26 patients (4.9%), without an age-specific difference (P = .5019; range, 0.0-8.2%). Tumor size was different according to age group (P < .0001), with larger tumor size in younger patients (<20 years old) relative to older patients. Immature teratoma revealed a higher incidence of symptomatic tumors on the first visit and significantly larger tumor size (P = .0004) compared with mature teratoma. Patients with ovarian teratoma have different clinical manifestations by age. It could help us understand clinical characteristics of the disease.