The Histopathological Spectrum of Ovarian Lesions Among Iraqi Women

Abstract

Ovarian cystic lesions are a prevalent issue in clinical practice and amongst women of all ages worldwide, encapsulating a multitude of entities ranging from benign functional cysts to complex neoplasms. In Iraq, ovarian cancers are notably significant, ranking as the fifth most common cancer amongst females according to the Iraqi Cancer Registry of 2022. This study is a retrospective observational study that included 209 samples obtained in the period from 2021-2024, all are female patients between the ages of 10 to 65 years, who were diagnosed with an ovarian mass and who underwent cystectomy or total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingooophorectomy. We analyzed the prevalence of ovarian cysts and tumors in Iraqi female population and how each type of lesion correlate with the age of the patient and the size and site of the lesion using SPSS statistics 26.   serous cystadenoma was the most common diagnosis in this study, accounting for 33% of cases, followed by teratoma (17%) and follicular cysts (15%). the majority of participants in this study were aged 40–49 years.  most lesions in this study were unilateral, with 41% located on the right side, 39% on the left, and 5% bilateral. Benign lesions accounted for 94% of cases in this study, with malignant tumors representing 5% of cases. 

Significant associations were found between diagnosis and size and diagnosis and laterality. Larger tumors (>5 cm) were mostly neoplastic, with high grade serous adenocarcinomas comprising the majority of malignant cases.