Immature teratoma of the ovary: correlation of MR imaging and pathologic findings

The objectives of this study were to describe MR imaging findings of immature teratoma and to correlate imaging findings with histopathologic findings. The MR findings of ten patients (age range 12-29 years, mean age 19.0 years) with pathologically proven immature teratoma were retrospectively reviewed for tumor size, presence and characteristics of fatty content, presence and characteristics of solid components, and presence of ascites and implants. The MR findings were compared with gross (n=3) and microscopic (n=10) findings. Comparisons between relative amounts of solid components and histologic grades were evaluated by Spearman rank-order correlation. On MR images all lesions appeared to be fat-containing tumors with solid components consisting of numerous cysts of various sizes. Solid tissue exhibited a wide variety of signal intensities on T2-weighted images. Punctate foci of fat were identified in all lesions, whereas fatty fluid was observed only in two. Predominant fluid content exhibited signal intensities similar to simple fluid in nine lesions. Ascites was observed in six lesions, and peritoneal dissemination in three. Pathologic studies confirmed scattered foci of adipose tissue in the solid portions of all cases, and revealed numerous cystic structure formations in these solid components. The correlation coefficient between the amount of solid tissue and the tumor grade was not significant (r(s)=0.266). The MR images of immature teratoma tended to show aqueous fluids and the solid components consisting of numerous cysts with punctate foci of adipose tissue, whereas predominant fluid is sebaceous fluid in the vast majority of mature cystic teratomas.