Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2006 Jul;49(7):1547-1553.

Preoperative MR imaging for differentiation of immature from mature ovarian teratomas

• Choi JH
• Tong SY
• Kim MJ
• Park JS
• Lim YT
• Kim JH
• Rha SE
• Kim MR

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to differentiate immature from mature ovarian teratomas, using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and to evaluate the MR imaging appearance of immature teratomas.
METHODS
The patients with pathologic diagnosis of ovarian teratomas between January 1995 and December 2005 were restrospectively reviewed for clinicopathologic characteristics.
RESULTS
Of the 787 patients studied, 773 (98.2%) patients were mature cystic teratomas and 14 (1.8%) patients were immature teratomas. Ten patients with immature teratoma (71.4%) were diagnosed preoperatively and 4 patients (28.6%) were diagnosed postoperatively. Preoperative MRI was performed in 4of 14 patients surgically proved immature teratomas. At MR imaging, the immature teratomas characteristically have a large, irregular solid component containing coarse calcifications and numerous variable-sized cysts. Small punctuate foci of fat help diagnosing these tumors.
CONCLUSION
Preoperative MR imaging are relatively specific in the detection of immature teratomas. This suggests that preoperative MR imaging is helpful in differentiating immature from mature ovarian teratomas.

Keyword

Teratoma; Ovary; Diagnosis; Magnetic resonance imaging

MeSH Terms

Diagnosis
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Ovary
Teratoma*