One-quarter of adnexal masses in youth are malignant

(HealthDay)—For children and adolescents with an adnexal mass, about 25 percent of masses are malignant, according to a study published online Feb. 4 in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Ayke J. Hermans, M.D., from the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving patients aged younger than 18 years who were diagnosed with or treated for an adnexal mass. The authors analyzed age, signs and symptoms, laboratory results, imaging data, type of surgery, and histologic diagnosis for 111 patients (mean age 10.2 ± 5.6 years).

The researchers found that in 25.2 percent of patients, ovarian masses were malignant. In 83.1 percent of benign masses and 100 percent of malignant masses, surgical therapy was applied. In 46.4 percent of benign masses, oophorectomy was performed. The only factor that significantly lowered the odds of oophorectomy in benign masses was the presence of a gynecologist (odds ratio, 0.14). The sensitivity and specificity of Papic et al's model were 40.91 and 100 percent, respectively.

"The malignancy rate among patients with adnexal masses in our cohort was one in four patients," the authors write. "The presence of a gynecologic surgeon protected against oophorectomy in benign cases."

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