Incidence of the histologic types of ovarian tumors in Benghazi (Libya) and Poland.

The distribution of histological types of ovarian tumors in two communities with different reproductive experience was compared. 108 cases of ovarian neoplasms diagnozed in Benghazi and 2238 cases collected in Ovarian Tumors Registry in Poland were classified according to the WHO histological typing. The difference in the incidence of histologic types and malignancy was statistically evaluated. Unlike Poland series, in Benghazi germ cell tumors are the most common type of ovarian neoplasms (50% of all reported cases), while the percentage of epithelial tumors accounts for 33.3. This proportion of incidence of epithelial and germ cell tumors in Benghazi is similar to relative frequency of these tumor types noted in teenagers in Europe and the USA. The difference in incidence of the histologic types of ovarian tumors in Benghazi and Poland is probably due to the significantly higher rate of fertility among Libyan women as compared with Polish female population.