Growth and Malignancy of Ovarian Tumours in Pregnancy

Abstract

Summary A series of 164 ovarian tumours diagnosed during pregnancy or the puerperium is presented. The commonest were the benign cystic teratoma (45 cases) and the mucinous cystadenoma (40 cases). Rapid growth of the tumour during pregnancy was observed in 5 of the 41 patients (12%) in whom assessment was possible; in none of these was the lesion malignant. The incidence of malignancy was 2.4% (4 of 164 cases) or 10 times less than that of ovarian tumours in non‐pregnant patients. This difference was accounted for by the variation in age distribution in pregnant and non‐pregnant patients with ovarian tumours. There were 21 patients with tumours 15 cm. or more in diameter. In this group the incidence of malignancy was 5% and the commonest complications were torsion (5 patients) and infection during the puerperium (4 patients).