Ovarian teratoma in a bitch

Teratoma is an unusual ovarian tumor, usually benign, originated from embryonic germ cells that mainly affects bitches. Diagnosis is often accidental and occurs mostly during elective or therapeutic surgical procedures or abdominal ultrasonography. This report describes a case of benign ovarian teratoma in a bitch submitted to exploratory laparotomy for emergency enterectomy due to ingestion of a linear foreign body. The neoplasm was discovered during the surgical procedure and a salpingo-oophorectomy was performed. The tumor was referred for histopathological examination, which revealed disorganized proliferation of multiple tissues of different embryonic origins, with formation of follicular cysts, adipose, cartilaginous tissue, and nerve fibers throughout the neoplasia. There were no criteria for malignancy in neoplastic cells and the final diagnosis was benign ovarian teratoma. The animal died from post-surgical complications related to intestinal necrosis. As with most cases reported in the literature, teratoma was a finding during a surgical procedure and was not causing clinical changes in the patient.