Objective: To identify different clinical and pathological features for adult and juvenile granulosa cell tumors.
Methods: The clinical records of 42 patients with granulosa cell tumors of ovary, including pathological features, treatments and follow up results between April 2001 and September 2009 were reviewed.
Results: 1) There were 38 newly diagnosed cases after 2001, and 4 cases were relapsed cases diagnosed before 2001. The 38 cases accounted for 3.13% of ovarian cancer cases treated in our hospital. 2) Twenty nine of the 38 cases (76.3%) were Adult Type, while the other 9 (23.7%) were Juvenile Type. The median onset age were 53 and 25 years old for the Adult Type and Juvenile Type, respectively, which shows significant difference (z = -2.990, P = 0.003). 3) The most common symptoms and signs were abdominal pain (44.7%), vaginal bleeding (42.1%), and abdominal mass (76.3%). The most common complications were endometrial hyperplasia (52.6%) and hysteromyoma (21.1%). 4) Stage I, II and III comprised 73.7%, 23.7% and 2.6% of the 38 cases, respectively. Ten patients ng the underwent conservative unilateral oophorectomy or ovarian enucleation. Twenty patients underwent total abdominal hysterectomy plus bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Eight patients underwent cytoreductive surgery. The 42 patients had been followed up for 7 to 175 months, with 14 patients lost of contact. No death was recorded. Inhibin, calretinin, and vimentin were demonstrated to be useful for the diagnosis of granulose cell tumors.
Conclusion: With low incidence rate, ovarian granulosa cell tumor is a low-grade malignant and functional tumor. Most are unilateral diseases. Most Adult-type granulosa cell tumors occur in middle aged and elderly people, while most juvenile granulosa cell tumors occur in adolescents and children. Acute abdomen symptom may occur but ascites are less likely to occur in patients with granular cell tumors than those with epithelial ovarian cancers. Ovarian granulosa cell tumors are usually detected early, but easily relapse. Long-term follow-up is needed.