ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Ovarian fibro-thecoma are rare presenting 1 to 4, 7%of ovarian organictumors. These tumors are of stromal origin and contain varied proportion of fusiform connective tissue cells and theca cells. They mainly affect menopausal or perimenopausal women. This tumor is benign in most cases and may be responsible for hormone secretion. OBJECTIVES: Study the epidemiological and clinical data of patients with ovarian fibro-thecoma, analyze ultrasonographic characteristics of these tumors,and evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of pelvic ultrasound in ovarian fibro-thecoma approach. METHODS: A retrospective study of 47 patients who underwent surgical treatment for ovarian fibro-thecoma was performed. Data were collected in our department of gynecologyand obstetrics A within Charles Nicole hospital in Tunis, over a period of 18 years between January 1994 and December 2012. For each of our observations, we analyzed the clinical and para-clinical data, including U.S. characteristics and available MRI data with confrontation to the final histological results. RESULTS: The average age of patients was 45.2 years. The average gravidity was 4 and the mean parity was 3. . Thirty-eight of our patients were postmenopausal (80.85%). Ovarian tumor was discovered incidentally in 11 cases and on the occasion of functional symptoms in 36 cases including pelvic pain in 18 cases. Physical examination revealed a pelvic mass in 17 patients and pelvic-abdominal in 14 patients. All patients underwent a pelvic ultrasound. . Ultrasound identified 49 tumors (2 cases of bilateral tumors). Average size of tumors was 10, 05 cm (4 to 30 cm). ) . Ovarian tumor was echogenic in 9 cases (18.36%), hypoechoic in 14 cases (28.47%), mixed in 14 cases (28.47%) and anechoic in 12 cases (24.49%). The tumor was found to be solid in 27 cases (55.1%); cystic in 8 cases (16.3%) and solido cystic in 14 cases (28.6%).It was compartmentalized in 10 cases. Extra cystic vegetations were found in 2 patients. The tumor was nonvascularized at color Doppler in 47 cases (95.9%) and slightly vascularized in 2 cases (4.1%). Intra peritoneal effusion was objectified in 15 cases. The diagnosis of ovarian fibro-thecoma was raised based on U.S in 25 cases (51.02%) before surgery .MRI was performed in four cases. All patients underwent surgery. We performed laparotomy in 36 cases and laparoscopy in 11 cases. By laparotomy were performed a total hysterectomy with bilateral oophorectomy in most cases (26 patients). By laparoscopy we did lumpectomy in all cases. . The final pathologic examination revealed 19 fibromas, 14cystadénofibromas and 14 fibrothecomas. CONCLUSION: The paraclinical exploration of ovarian fibro-thecoma isbased, as all ovarian tumors, on ultrasound examination. The most typical features are images of solid tumors with regular contours, echogenic or mixed with the presence of streakedshadows.
