Dermoid Cyst Characteristics: A 10-year Case Series Study from a Tertiary Care Public Medical Center

Background & Objective: Ovarian dermoid cysts or mature cystic teratomas are pathologically defined as having at least two elements out of three germ cell layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm) with different presentations. The present study was conducted with aim to describe the characteristics of 148 patients with dermoid cyst.Materials & Methods: This case series study was conducted in Imam Hossein Medical Center, a public center located in Tehran, Iran on dermoid cyst patients who were operated on between 2011 to 2021. The data were analyzed with SPSS (version 19.0). P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The most common presenting symptom was abdominal pain in 51 patients (34.5%) and 29 (19.6%) were asymptomatic. Cystectomy was the most frequent surgery (n=110, 74.3%). Most of the dermoid cyst cases revealed typical sonographic findings. ROMA was positive in all tested cases (26 out of 148) as the most common abnormal tumor marker followed by CA19-9 in 43.9% and CA125 in 14.4 %. CA125 was significantly increased in larger tumors (P=0.018).Conclusion: Different manifestations of dermoid cyst discussed in this study can provide clues for better management of these patients and make it possible to distinguish it from malignancies and other diseases. Diversity and wide range in presentation, age of diagnosis, ultrasonic findings, and serum tumor marker level in dermoid cyst should always be considered.