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Adnexal masses and pregnancy: a 12-year experience
Gordon B Sherard1, Charles A Hodson, H James Williams
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine, Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Greenville, NC, USA.
Objective:
Our purpose was to describe pregnancy-associated adnexal masses in eastern North Carolina.
Study Design:
A retrospective study was performed of 60 adnexal masses resected during pregnancy at a regional referral hospital from January 1990 to March 2002.
Results:
Adnexal masses occurred in 0.15% of pregnancies. Average gestational age at diagnosis and surgery was 12 and 20 weeks, respectively. Fifty percent of ovarian tumors were mature cystic teratomas, 20% were cystadenomas, and 13% were functional ovarian cysts. Malignancy occurred in 13%. Tumors with low malignant potential comprised 63% of malignancies. Average cyst size was 11.5 cm for malignancies and 7.6 cm for benign lesions (P value <.05). The preterm birth rate was 9%, the miscarriage rate was 4.7% after elective cases, and average Apgar scores were 7.5 and 8.7 at 1 and 5 minutes.
Conclusion:
The incidence of malignancy in pregnancy-associated adnexal masses was high. Ultrasonography detected internal excrescences in the majority of tumors with low malignant potential. Fetal outcomes were not affected.