Malignant ovarian germ cell tumors: the KK Hospital experience

Ovarian germ cell malignancies pose a therapeutic challenge especially amongst young patients. This is a retrospective review of 49 patients treated for such malignancies at KK Women's and Children's Hospital over a 13-year period. The relative proportion of such tumors was 6.2%. Age at presentation ranged from 14 to 51 years (mean 25.4 years). Forty-nine percent of tumors were immature teratomas and 81.6% had stage I disease. All patients had surgery initially and 67.3% required postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The patients were followed-up for one to 145 months (mean 51.6 months). All the 87.8% of patients on follow-up are alive and disease-free. There was one recurrence. Five patients had eight successful pregnancies, with no congenital anomalies. Mean duration when menstruation was resumed and regular was 2.5 and 3.5 months, respectively. With combination chemotherapy and conservative surgery, the outlook for patients is excellent, with emphasis on preservation of ovarian function and fertility.