Surgical treatment of ovarian tumors in childhood

From 1971 to 1988, 45 girls aged 1 week to 17 years were treated for a total of 46 solid and cystic tumors of the ovaries. Pathohistological examination revealed epithelial tumors in eight cases, a tumor originating from the ovarian stroma in one case, germinal tumors in 17 cases, 15 functional ovarian cysts, and five paraovarian cysts. The stroma tumor and four of the 17 germinal tumors were malignant. Surgical treatment for solid tumors consisted generally of a unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, but in operations for cystic tumors as well, vital ovarian tissue could only rarely be preserved. Functional ovarian cysts were excised if they were larger than 5 cm. Subsequent to excision of malignant tumors, chemotherapy with cisplatin, vincristine and bleomycin was performed. On follow-up, all patients with benign lesions were well. One of the girls with malignancies died and another is undergoing chemotherapy for tumor recurrence in the contralateral ovary.