Obstetrics & Gynecology

Answer 4 Mature cystic teratoma. Mature cystic teratoma is the most common ovarian neoplasm in adolescents. Its peak incidence is in the reproductive years and most appear in the first 2 decades of life. Mature cystic teratomas are composed of mature adult tissues from the germ cell layers of the ovary, and 90% are benign.5 Mature cystic teratomas usually contain sebaceous material and hair, and 15% of lesions are bilateral. Malignant degeneration can occur in 1% to 2% of teratomas, usually in patients aged older than 40 years. Hemorrhagic corpus luteum rarely grows larger than 6 cm and generally appears as a single large cyst with an internal echo pattern consistent with blood on ultrasound or CT. An epithelial ovarian cancer would be extremely rare in this age-group, and ectopic pregnancy is ruled out by the negative pregnancy test. REFERENCE 5.  Kurman RJ. Blaustein’s pathology of the female genital tract. 4th ed. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1994:877. Click here to return to the questions

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