Clinicopathological Study of Surface Epithelial Tumours of the Ovary: An Institutional Study

It is an established fact that tumours of ovary inherit a spectrum of histogenetic background, the variety being more than any other organ. Surface epithelial stromal tumours of ovary being the most common type of ovarian tumours form a complicating and baffling subject in the history of oncology and hence, are an interesting topic for study.

The aim of this study was to categorize the surface epithelial tumours of ovary into benign, borderline and malignant, to study their clinical and histopathological pattern and to compare their incidences with other studies.

This is a 5 year (3years of retrospective + 2 years of prospective) study conducted during the period of June 2006 to May 2011. It consisted of 139 cases (141 tumours/ lesions). The relevant clinical details about the patient were retrieved from hospital data.

The 141 surface epithelial tumours from 139 cases accounted for 66.2% of all the ovarian tumours encountered during the study period. The mean age of diagnosis in our study was 42.4 years. The most common clinical presentation was mass in abdomen. 90.6% of tumours were unilateral and 9.4% cases were bilateral. Right sided tumours (59.8%) were more common than left sided tumours (40.14%). 82.3% were benign tumours, 12.1% were malignant and 5.7% tumours belonged to the borderline category.

Surface epithelial tumours present a great challenge to the gynecologic oncologist because non-neoplastic ovarian lesions can form a pelvic mass and potentially mimic a neoplasm. Their proper recognition and histopathologic classification is essential for appropriate management as malignant tumours are usually picked up at an advanced stage owing to their asymptomatic nature and inaccessible site for aspiration cytology and biopsy. Histopathological examination still remains the mainstay in diagnosis of these neoplasms.