Borderline ovarian tumours in pregnant and non-pregnant women – literature review

Abstract

Introduction Borderline ovarian tumours develop most often in women under the age of 40, with latent onset and lack of specific symptoms. Due to the consequences they bring from the clinical point of view, they constitute a condition which requires considerable attention, with emphasis on pregnant women. The effect of pathological changes within the ovary on the course of pregnancy and perinatal outcomes is still a broad and up-to-date problem. Medical teams face challenges in the field of adequate diagnostics and therapy, as well as dilemmas regarding the assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of medical treatment and access to modern diagnostic methods, all of which determine the optimal medical solutions for any case. Objective The aim of this review is to compare the aspects related to the occurrence of borderline ovarian tumours in pregnant and non-pregnant women based on the current literature. Material and Methods A review of literature concerning the discussed problem was performed in PubMed database. The searching strategy was based on the following terms and keywords combinations: „borderline ovarian tumour”, „borderline ovarian tumour in pregnancy”, „adnexal masses”, and „ovarian tumour in pregnancy”. We considered all articles in English from January 1995 to April 2021. After applying the exclusion criteria, 71 articles were selected. Summary The diagnostics of ovarian borderline tumours poses numerous difficulties and treatment methods require extensive knowledge and cooperation of various groups of specialists. Management is based on the current clinical condition of the pregnant woman, available treatment methods, gestational age, history of chronic diseases and hereditary disorders. Therapy should be selected on a case-by-case basis

Keywords

• pregnancy
• borderline ovarian tumour
• management in pre-gnancy