Can malignant teratoma be cured

Malignant teratoma is different from other ovarian malignant tumors. Teratoma is formed by another embryo during fetal development and does not belong to the patient's own tissue. Neither benign nor malignant represents the nature of the patient's own ovarian tissue. Regardless of whether the teratoma is benign or malignant, it is not necessary to remove the ovary. Due to the limitation of the incision, the field of view of laparotomy is small and the operation is difficult. It is often not easy to peel off the teratoma tissue cleanly. Laparoscopic surgery has a wide field of view and a magnifying effect. The ovary where the teratoma is located is placed in a plastic bag, which can completely remove the teratoma tissue without contaminating the abdominal cavity. At the same time, it is convenient to explore the contralateral ovary. Therefore, teratoma surgery does not require laparotomy. Teratoma originates from potentially multifunctional primitive germ cells and is mostly benign, but the malignant tendency tends to increase with age.

Can malignant teratoma be cured? This is a question that many people are concerned about. Experts say that after a malignant teratoma is diagnosed, the patient should go to the hospital for treatment in time to improve the cure rate. Let us now learn about the treatment and prognosis of malignant teratoma.

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Once a teratoma is diagnosed, early surgical resection is necessary to prevent benign teratoma from becoming malignant due to delayed surgery, and to prevent infection, rupture, bleeding and complications. The key point of teratoma surgery is to completely remove the tumor. For ovarian and testicular tumors, one ovary or testicle should be removed. For sacrococcygeal teratoma, the coccyx must be removed at the same time to avoid residual pluripotent cells that may cause tumor recurrence.

The treatment principle of malignant teratoma is combined adjuvant therapy. Conventional chemotherapy is used for 1.5 to 2 years after surgical resection. Cisplatin, vinblastine or vincristine, and bleomycin are commonly used. In recent years, combined chemotherapy with cisplatin, doxorubicin, ifosfamide and other chemotherapy drugs is recommended. Radiotherapy is only used for cases of malignant teratoma with clear microscopic or macroscopic residuals. The radiotherapy dose is preferably 25Gy for microscopic residuals, and 35Gy can be used for macroscopic residuals. For those with complete surgical resection, chemotherapy is advocated in recent years, and radiotherapy is used with caution to avoid delayed damage to reproductive organs and bone development during radiotherapy.

For patients with large or extensively infiltrated malignant teratomas that are clinically judged to be unresectable, preoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy can be used to shrink the tumor before delayed radical surgery, which is of positive significance in improving the surgical resection rate and preserving important organs. For advanced cases, preoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy can also achieve the therapeutic purpose of relieving tumor compression, controlling metastatic lesions, and gaining the opportunity for another surgery.

Prognosis

The prognosis of teratoma is closely related to factors such as the age of first diagnosis, tumor location, incidence of malignant transformation, and treatment results. The younger the age of first diagnosis, the lower the incidence of malignancy. Among them, the malignancy rate of occult teratoma is the highest, reaching 71.4%; the mixed type is 46.7%, and the overt type is only 9.4%.

Complete removal of the tumor and reduction of postoperative recurrence and malignant transformation are another major prognostic factor for teratoma. Even for malignant teratoma, complete surgical resection is still the basic guarantee for long-term survival. At present, the three-year survival rate of comprehensive treatment after complete resection of malignant teratoma can reach 50%, and the five-year survival rate is 35%, while the survival rate of residual or recurrent tumors during surgery is only 3%. Among them, the survival rate of malignant teratomas in parts that are easy to completely remove, such as testicles and ovaries, is significantly higher than that of retroperitoneal and sacrococcygeal malignant teratomas. Among them, the prognosis of occult sacrococcygeal malignant teratomas is the worst, with a survival rate of only 8%.