What are the common harmful consequences of teratoma?

Teratoma is a gynecological disease that is harmful to women's health. It has many adverse effects on the patient's body. So, what are the common harmful consequences of teratoma?

Complications caused by teratoma:

1. Torsion. Since tumors often have pedicles and high density, they have a certain weight and the density of the same tumor is uneven, so torsion is prone to occur. The cause is often factors such as pregnancy bowel movements, bladder filling or emptying, coughing, vomiting or accidental violence that cause sudden changes in abdominal pressure. The incidence of torsion is 9% to 17%. After torsion occurs, there are often typical symptoms such as acute abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. In the early stage of torsion, there is tenderness in the pedicle of the tumor, and in the later stage, there is tenderness in the entire tumor. If there are these typical symptoms and signs, diagnosis is not difficult. When twisting 180°, the artery and vein of the tumor can be compressed. In severe cases, it can be twisted 360° or more than 720°, resulting in interruption of arterial blood supply and obstruction of venous return, leading to intracystic bleeding and cystic wall apoplexy and gangrene. If delayed too long, the affected ovary cannot be preserved during surgery.

2. Rupture Teratoma rupture is rare. Only 4 cases among 647 cases in Peking Union Medical College Hospital ruptured. Data show that the incidence of tumor rupture during pregnancy is as high as 15.8%, while it is only 1.3% during non-pregnancy. Rupture is mostly caused by tumor trauma, torsion, infection or gangrene. The overflow of sebaceous substances (containing neutral fats, fatty acids and other components) and squamous cell debris in the cyst can stimulate the thickening of the peritoneum to form chronic granulomas or be accompanied by calcium salt deposition. In addition, there are also reports of cases where tumors ruptured into hollow organs such as the bladder and intestines, resulting in frequent urination, painful urination, hematuria, and even the discharge of sebaceous substances, hair, bone fragments, etc. in the urine, or the discharge of the above substances from the anus, so a diagnosis can be obtained.

3. Infection is usually caused by blood or lymph. It can be caused by pelvic inflammatory disease, intestinal adhesions, postpartum and appendix abscesses, or by tumor puncture, torsion, rupture, etc. The pathogenic bacteria of infection are mostly streptococci, staphylococci, Escherichia coli, tuberculosis or aerogenes.

4. Hemolytic anemia Mature teratoma may be associated with hemolytic anemia, but it is very rare. Most patients have splenomegaly and a positive Comb test. Adrenal cortex hormones or splenectomy are ineffective or have only a short-term effect on these patients, but they can recover after the removal of the ovarian tumor. There are the following hypotheses about the cause of this autologous hemolytic anemia: ① Antibodies produced by tumor antigen stimulation interact with red blood cells and cause hemolysis; ② A substance produced by the tumor is coated on red blood cells, changing their antigenicity or resistance to hemolysis.

5. It may be combined with other germ cell tumors.

The above is the specific content about the complications caused by teratoma. I hope it can be helpful to everyone and wish you good health.