Ovarian neoplasms in children and adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Ovarian tumors diagnosed at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria, in 169 patients less than 20 years of age have been analyzed. The most common tumor involving the ovaries of Nigerian children was Burkitt's lymphoma, which was bilateral in all cases. Germ cell tumors accounted for 67.1% of 76 non-Burkitt's tumors, while tumors of the sex cord stroma were encountered more frequently than epithelial tumors. Epithelial tumors were less frequently diagnosed than in previously reported series, and none was found in 122 patients under 14 years of age. It is suggested that Burkitt's lymphoma may primarily affect the ovaries and that the low frequency of epithelial tumors in Africans may be related to genetic differences in the metabolism of the female sex hormones.