Babina Sorokhaibam, Khuraijam Sucheta Devi, Sushma Khuraijam, Deepak Laishram, Seter Potom
The term teratoma is derived from the Greek word “teratos“ which means monster.[1] The Mature Cystic Teratoma (MCT) is the most common ovarian germ cell tumour of the ovary in young women and accounts for 10-20 % of all ovarian tumours.[2] Malignancy in association with benign cystic teratoma of the ovary is rare. Malignancy complicates about 1-2% of dermoid cysts and may occur either by malignant transformation from one of the pre-existing benign elements or a malignant lesion may co-exist with the benign teratoma.[3,4] An incidence of malignancy of 1.8% in 8000 cases of dermoid cysts was found in an extensive study done by Peterson.[5] According to the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) in Manipur, a total of 315 cases of primary malignant ovarian tumour were encountered during the period between January 2005 to December 2012 and only 2 cases (0.63%) were histologically proven to be malignant transformation of mature cystic teratoma. The most common histologic types are squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) followed by adenocarcinoma and melanoma.[4] Malignant transformation occurring in mature cystic teratoma of the ovary is rarely diagnosed preoperatively due to the rarity of this tumour and its similarity to mature cystic teratoma.[6] Hence, malignant transformation is currently diagnosed by post-operative pathological examination in most cases. In this article, we report two cases of squamous cell carcinoma arising in MCT. The frequency of this type of malignant transformation is age related and is most common in the fifth and sixth decades of life.
