Common knowledge about the symptoms of mature teratoma

What are the symptoms of mature teratoma? Teratoma is a very harmful disease. The incidence of the disease has gradually increased in recent years, which is something we do not want to see. Many patients are not very familiar with the disease and are not clear about the common knowledge of teratoma. Below we will give you a brief introduction to the symptoms of teratoma.

Mature teratomas can occur at any age, and can be seen as early as newborns, and can also occur in people aged 80 to 90, but most of them occur in women of childbearing age around 30 years old. Most tumors are unilateral, with similar incidences on the left and right sides, and 8% to 24% of cases occur on both sides at the same time. Since the tumor is benign, if there are no complications such as torsion or infection, there are often no special symptoms. If the tumor is large, there may be abdominal distension, mild abdominal pain, and compression symptoms such as frequent urination. Although a few patients have endocrine symptoms such as menstrual disorders, they are mostly unrelated to tumors.

1. Mature teratoma complicated with pregnancy:

Because mature teratomas mostly occur in women of childbearing age and do not affect ovarian function, the combined pregnancy rate is relatively high. Literature reports that combined pregnancy accounts for 10% to 22%. This tumor is also the most common type of pregnancy combined with ovarian tumors. An analysis of 39 cases of pregnancy combined with ovarian tumors (tumor [translation]: an abnormal lesion formed by the loss of normal regulation of the growth of a cell in a local tissue at the genetic level under the action of various carcinogenic factors, resulting in its clonal abnormal proliferation.) by scholars showed that mature teratomas accounted for 46.2%, followed by endometriosis cysts (12.8%) and ovarian serous cystadenomas (10.3%).

When an ovarian tumor is found in early pregnancy, it is not possible to completely rule out a corpus luteum cyst during pregnancy, and surgery in early pregnancy is likely to induce miscarriage, so surgery can be performed until about 4 months of pregnancy. If a tumor is found in late pregnancy and has been pushed out of the pelvic cavity and is not likely to block the birth canal, the tumor can be surgically removed after delivery. If the tumor blocks the birth canal, a cesarean section can be performed during full-term pregnancy or after delivery, and the tumor can be removed at the same time.

2. Ovarian teratoma in children and adolescents:

During childhood and preschool years, teratomas often arise in the sacrococcygeal region. Although rare (17% of all teratomas in this age group), ovarian teratomas are the second most common site. Ovarian teratomas in this age group most often occur after the age of 5 years, with 64% of cases occurring in the 6- to 11-year-old age group. The surgical approach for ovarian teratomas diagnosed in children or adolescents is the same as that for adults. Currently, experience with laparoscopic surgery in prepubertal children is limited to successful case reports. A combined approach using laparoscopy to evaluate the tumor followed by a small laparotomy to remove the teratoma has been successful in adolescent patients. If there is spillage of cystic contents during surgery, the spilled contents should also be treated with copious irrigation.