Objective: To see the morphological pattern of benign and malignant ovarian neoplasms.
Method: Retrospective study of all consecutive cases of ovarian neoplasms diagnosed at Aga Khan University Hospital between 1st January 1993 and 30th September 1998.
Setting: The Section of Histopathology, AKUH, Karachi.
Observation: Of 855 ovarian tumours 506 (59.18%) were benign and 349 (40.81%) malignant. Surface epithelial-stromal tumours comprised 63.50% of all tumours. Benign cystic teratoma was the commonest benign tumour (35.17% of all benign tumours) and serous cystadenocarcinoma was the commonest malignant tumour (33.33% of all malignant tumours). Mucinous cystadenocarcinomas are more common in our population as compared to the West and borderline and malignant mucinous tumours occur at a younger age group. Malignant germ cell tumours are also common in our population.
Conclusion: Except for the greater frequency of malignant mucinous and germ cell tumours, the findings of our series correspond to the published Western data.