Fertility-preserving treatment for patients with malignant germ cell tumors of the ovary.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate whether fertility preservation influences the clinical outcome in patients with malignant germ cell tumors of the ovary (MGCTO).


METHODS
A case study analysis was performed on patients with MGCTO treated at Kurume University Hospital between 1986 and 2004. Thirty-five patients were included in the study, 14 with immature teratoma, 11 with dysgerminoma, eight with endodermal sinus tumor, and two with mixed germ cell tumor. Twenty-three patients had International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage I (Ia, 11; Ib, 2; Ic, 10), one had stage II, seven had stage III, and four had stage IV disease.


RESULTS
Five patients with stage III or IV disease received radical surgery. Thirty patients underwent conservative surgery. As the adjuvant treatment, 30 patients received chemotherapy, while five patients did not receive any chemotherapy. The overall survival rate was 97.1%. One patient died of the disease. She was 13 years old with a stage IV endodermal sinus tumor. Twelve have attempted conception, and eight have achieved at least one pregnancy (66.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
Irrespective of the stage of the disease, conservative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy for MGCTO can achieve a favorable outcome in terms of survival and fertility.
Nishio
Shin
S
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan. vishinshi@d4.dion.ne.jp
Ushijima
Kimio
K
Fukui
Akimasa
A
Fujiyoshi
Naoki
N
Kawano
Kouichiro
K
Komai
Kan
K
Ota
Shunichiro
S
Fujiyoshi
Keizo
K
Kamura
Toshiharu
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*; D010052:Ovariectomy