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More Cases of Benign Testicular Teratomas are Detected in Adults than in Children. A Clinicopathological Study of 543 Testicular Germ Cell Tumor Cases

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Pathology & Oncology Research

Abstract

Benign testicular teratomas are always thought to be pediatric neoplasms and previously all the teratoid tumors in the adult testis regarded as malignant. Recently, three publications reported benign testicular teratomas in adulthood and the latest WHO classification refers them as “prepubertal type of teratomas” which rarely appear in adulthood. These neoplasms behave benign and seemingly analogous independently whether they appear in pre- or postpubertal patients. The aim of our study was to investigate the frequency of benign testicular teratomas both in children and adults. 593 cases of testicular neoplasms were found in a period of 17 years ranging from 1998 to 2014 in the archive of our department (Department of Pathology, Medical Center, Pécs University). 543 cases diagnosed as germ cell tumor which have all been further evaluated in conjunction with the clinical data available. Of all germ cell tumor cases 14 (2.5 %) were pure teratomas. Ten out of 14 were the WHO-defined “conventional” teratoma, 4 of the 14 were the “benign or the so called prepubertal type” from which three occurred in adult patients. Only one of the 14 occurred in childhood, indicating that benign prepubertal type teratomas –which are regarded generally as childhood tumors- are more frequently detected in adults than in children. Benign adult testicular teratomas comprised 21 % of all pure teratoma cases in our series. Practicioners in the field have to be aware of its existence also in adulthood to avoid overtreatment and not to expose their patients to unnecessary chemotherapy, retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy (RLA) and the potential complications of these interventions.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are much obliged and grateful to Dr. Béla Kajtár for preparation of the FISH images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology 2nd Diagnostic Laboratory, Rákóczi u 2, PÉCS, H-7624, Hungary

    Semjén David, Kalman Endre, Kaszas Balint & Tornóczky Tamás

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Paediatrics, Pécs University, József Attila u.7, Pécs, H-7623, Hungary

    Farkas András

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Diagnostic, Pécs University, Vörömarty u. 4, Pécs, H-7621, Hungary

    Kovács Árpad

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Urology, Pécs University, Munkácsy M. u. 2, Pécs, H-7621, Hungary

    Pusztai Csaba

  5. Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Einthovenweg 20, Leiden, 2300RC, The Netherlands

    Szuhai Karoly

Authors
  1. Semjén David
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  2. Farkas András
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  3. Kalman Endre
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  4. Kaszas Balint
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  5. Kovács Árpad
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  6. Pusztai Csaba
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  7. Szuhai Karoly
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  8. Tornóczky Tamás
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Semjén David.

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This study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 and 1983.

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No interest.

Additional information

The presented scientific contribution is dedicated to the 650th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Pécs, Hungary

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David, S., András, F., Endre, K. et al. More Cases of Benign Testicular Teratomas are Detected in Adults than in Children. A Clinicopathological Study of 543 Testicular Germ Cell Tumor Cases. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 23, 513–517 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-016-0120-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-016-0120-3

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