title: Prolonged survival following salvage surgery for chemorefractory ovarian immature teratoma: a case report and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Data regarding salvage surgery for ovarian immature teratoma (IT) are lacking despite its established role in the management of chemorefractory testicular germ cell tumors. In this report, a case of advanced IT that was salvaged by secondary cytoreduction following failure of both primary therapy and salvage chemotherapy is described, and the available literature is reviewed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 28-year-old patient underwent primary cytoreductive surgery followed by platinum-based chemotherapy for stage IIIC, grade 3, ovarian IT. Second-line chemotherapy was administered after residual disease was identified at second-look surgery. Following failure of salvage chemotherapy, aggressive secondary debulking resulted in long-term disease-free survival of over 48 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There appears to be a distinct role for salvage surgery in selected cases of chemorefractory IT. More studies are needed to further define the subset of patients who benefit most from this management approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY 12208, USA.
authors.forename: Youssef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rezk
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sheinfeld
authors.forename: Dennis S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D013724:Teratoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*