Laparoscopic-Assisted Fertility-Sparing Surgery for Growing Teratoma Syndrome of the Ovary: Experience From a Tertiary Center.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

The main objective is to evaluate the feasibility of laparoscopic fertility-sparing surgery in women with growing teratoma syndrome.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Chinese tertiary university hospital.

PATIENTS

Patients with growing teratoma syndrome who underwent fertility-sparing surgery between January 2015 and August 2023.

INTERVENTIONS

Baseline characteristics and surgical outcomes were evaluated, including clinical information, surgical procedures, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, complications, length of hospital stay, and follow-up information.

MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS

Twenty-six patients with ovarian growing teratoma syndrome underwent fertility-sparing surgery: 12 had laparoscopic surgery and 14 underwent laparotomic surgery. In the laparoscopic group, the median age of the patients during initial management of immature teratoma or mixed malignant ovarian germ cell tumor was 14.0 years (interquartile range, 13.0-24.5 years). Eleven patients were nulliparous. The primary ovarian tumor was pure immature teratoma in 10 patients and mixed ovarian germ cell tumor in 2 patients. Complete laparoscopic tumor resection was achieved in 11 patients. Patients in the laparoscopic group had shorter median operative time (76.5 vs 180.0 minutes, p = .001), lower estimated blood loss (20.0 vs 400.0 mL, p <.001), and decreased postoperative hospital stay (2.0 vs 7.0 days, p <.001) compared with laparotomic surgery. There was no conversion to laparotomy and no perioperative complications. Histologic examination confirmed mature teratoma in all cases. During a median follow-up of 21.9 months (interquartile range, 7.6-44.9 months), 11 patients were alive without disease and 1 was alive with disease. One pregnancy was achieved postoperatively.

CONCLUSION

Laparoscopic fertility-sparing surgery may represent a feasible option in well-selected patients with ovarian growing teratoma syndrome. Surgery should be performed in gynecologic oncology centers by experienced staff trained in endoscopic procedures. More research and long-time follow-up are needed to determine the oncologic outcomes and safety of laparoscopic surgery in this population.