Juvenile granulosa cell ovarian tumor: a case report and review of literature

Premature Thelarche: An Updated Review

BACKGROUND

Premature thelarche is the most common pubertal disorder in girls. The condition should be differentiated from central precocious puberty which may result in early epiphyseal fusion and reduced adult height, necessitating treatment.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this article is to familiarize physicians with the clinical manifestations of premature thelarche and laboratory tests that may help distinguish premature thelarche from central precocious puberty.

METHODS

A search was conducted in September 2022 in PubMed Clinical Queries using the key term "Premature thelarche". The search strategy included all clinical trials, observational studies, and reviews published within the past 10 years. Only papers published in the English literature were included in this review. The information retrieved from the above search was used to compile the present article.

RESULTS

Premature thelarche denotes isolated breast development before the age of 8 years in girls who do not manifest other signs of pubertal development. The condition is especially prevalent during the first two years of life. The majority of cases of premature thelarche are idiopathic. The condition may result from an unsuppressed hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in the early years of life, an "overactivation" of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis in early childhood secondary to altered sensitivity to steroids of the hypothalamic receptors controlling sexual maturation, increased circulating free estradiol, increased sensitivity of breast tissue to estrogens, and exposure to exogenous estrogens. The cardinal feature of premature thelarche is breast development which occurs without additional signs of pubertal development in girls under 8 years of age. The enlargement may involve only one breast, both breasts asymmetrically, or both breasts symmetrically. The breast size may fluctuate cyclically. The enlarged breast tissue may be transiently tender. There should be no significant changes in the nipples or areolae and no pubic or axillary hair. The vulva, labia majora, labia minora, and vagina remain prepubertal. Affected girls have a childlike body habitus and do not have mature contours. They are of average height and weight. Growth and osseous maturation, the onset of puberty and menarche, and the pattern of adolescent sexual development remain normal. Most cases of premature thelarche can be diagnosed on clinical grounds. Laboratory tests are seldom indicated. No single test can reliably differentiate premature thelarche from precocious puberty.

CONCLUSION

Premature thelarche is benign, and no therapy is necessary apart from parental reassurance. As enlargement of breasts may be the first sign of central precocious puberty, a prolonged follow- up period every 3 to 6 months with close monitoring of other pubertal events and linear growth is indicated in all instances.

Juvenile granulosa cell tumor in pregnancy: case series and literature review

BACKGROUND

Pregnancy complicated with juvenile granulosa cell tumor (JGCT) is very rare; thus, the experience on clinical diagnosis and management is limited.

CASES

Two patients presented with abdominal pain, two were incidentally discovered, one by ultrasonography, and one during a caesarian section. One case received an emergency caesarian section because of tumor rupture at 38th week's gestation, the rest were treated at full term and no abnormalities were detected in the newborns. Three cases received further staging surgery, two of which received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. No patient had recurrent disease after a follow-up period spanning from 13 to 57 months.

CONCLUSION

In the absence of emergency, surgery can be delayed without affecting the fetus. More research is needed to determine the value of chemotherapy in FIGO stage I patients.

A rare case of Ovarian Juvenile Granulosa Cell Tumor in an Infant with Isosexual Pseudo Puberty and a Revision of Literature

Juvenile ovarian granulosa cell tumors (JGCTs) are described infrequently in pediatrics, and their finding in infants is exceptional. We highlight the presenting symptoms, radiologic images, operative management, and histopathologic findings of a 9-month-old female with isosexual pseudopuberty. An updated revision of literature in infants below the age of 12 months is also reported.

Role of inhibin B in detecting recurrence of granulosa cell tumors of the ovary in postmenopausal patients

INTRODUCTION

Several biomarkers have been proposed for the detection of recurrences in adult-type granulosa cell tumors of the ovary. Here we validate the value of inhibin B in detecting recurrences and investigate its role in guiding follow-up examinations and treatment strategies in postmenopausal patients with ovarian adult-type granulosa cell tumors.

METHODS

Data from 140 patients with a diagnosis of adult-type granulosa cell tumor of the ovary referred to the European Institute of Oncology of Milan from January 1996 to March 2016 were retrospectively collected. Among these, we selected data from 47 postmenopausal women for whom serial inhibin B measurements and related imaging examinations were performed according to the follow-up program, with a total of 315 serum inhibin B samples, together with the corresponding clinical examination, and 180 imaging examinations, confirming the presence or absence of macroscopic disease.

RESULTS

At a cut-off of 7 pg/mL, inhibin B levels were significantly correlated with the presence/absence of disease (p<0.01), with a sensitivity of 98.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 95.8% to 99.9%) and a specificity of 88.9% (95% CI 82.6% to 93.5%). Further, inhibin B was positively correlated with the size of the lesion, and levels were significantly higher in patients with larger lesions also at a cut-off size of 3 cm (total diameter). Logistic regression showed that 15.6 pg/mL, 44.6 pg/mL, and 73.6 pg/mL inhibin B corresponded to 25%, 50%, and 75% probability of having an abnormal computer tomography scan, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results confirmed that inhibin B is a sensitive and specific marker for adult-type granulosa cell tumors of the ovary that may be used during follow-up for detection of recurrences. Moreover, it could guide clinicians in the decision regarding when to perform imaging, avoiding redundant interventional tests in the absence of clinical suspicion.

Retrospective analysis of clinicopathological characteristics of 19 ovarian juvenile granulosa cell tumor cases

AIM

To describe the clinical and pathological characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of juvenile granulosa cell tumor (JGCT).

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed the data of 19 patients with histopathologically confirmed juvenile granulosa cell tumors treated in two medical centers in Wuhan city of China between 1999 and 2019.

RESULTS

Totally, 19 patients were included during the period. The median age at diagnosis was 8.25 years (range, 0.25-28 years). The most common clinical presentation was abdominal pain, five out of 10 prepubertal children presented with precocious puberty. Three patients underwent radical surgery (including total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, omentectomy, and pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy), the other 16 patients had fertility-sparing surgery (cystectomy or ipsilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with or without omentectomy and lymphadenectomy). Eighteen patients had the international federation of gynecology and obstetrics (FIGO) stage I tumors, one patient had FIGO stage II disease. Twelve patients received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The median follow-up time from the time of diagnosis was 35 months (range, 13-250 months). One patient experienced relapse and died of the disease 32 months after the initial diagnosis. Eighteen patients were alive and had not experienced recurrence during the follow-up period. The reproductive age patients that received fertility-sparing surgery had regular menstruation.

CONCLUSIONS

A majority of JGCTs are diagnosed as FIGO stage I tumors and have favorable clinical outcomes. Adjuvant chemotherapy seems to improve outcomes for patients with advanced-stage JGCTs; however, the value of chemotherapy in stage Ic patients is still unknown. Fertility sparing surgery should be considered in young patients who wish to bear children.

Stage I juvenile granulosa cell tumors of the ovary: A multicentre analysis from the MITO-9 study

OBJECTIVE

Juvenile type granulosa cell tumor (JGCTs) are extremely rare, mainly diagnosed in young women and pre-pubertal girls at stage I disease. Literature is scanty and guidelines regarding the optimal management are still controversial. The aim of this study is to add on the experience of the MITO group (Multicenter Italian Trials in Ovarian Cancer).

METHODS

Clinicopathological data from patients with stage I JGCTs were retrospectively collected. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the patient population. Clinicopathological features and treatment variables were evaluated for association with relapse.

RESULTS

Seventeen patients were identified. Surgical approach was laparoscopic and open for 7 (41%) and 10 (59%) patients, respectively. Fertility sparing surgery (FSS) was performed in 15 patients (88%): unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (USO) in 11 patients, cystectomy with subsequent USO in 2 patients and cystectomy alone in the remaining 2. Adjuvant chemotherapy was given in 2 cases. After a median follow up time of 80 months, no recurrences were registered.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the available data, minimally invasive surgery is safe in stage I JGCTs. Because of the good prognosis and of the young age of patients, FSS can be chosen in most of the cases. The role of cystectomy deserves further validation. The need of adjuvant chemotherapy in stage I disease is still unclear, even if available data does not seem to support treatment over surveillance.

Ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors: an update on clinical features, molecular changes, and management

Sex cord stromal-tumors are rare tumors of the ovary that include numerous tumor subtypes of variable histological features and biological behavior. Surgery is the main therapeutic modality for the management of these tumors, while chemotherapy and hormonal therapy may be used in some patients with progressive and recurrent tumors. Several studies investigated molecular changes in the different tumor types. Understanding molecular changes underlying the development and progression of sex cord-stromal tumors provides valuable information for diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for these tumors. In this review, we provide an update on the clinical presentation, molecular changes, and management of sex cord-stromal tumors.

Outcomes of fertility-sparing surgery in ovarian juvenile granulosa cell tumor

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of ovarian juvenile granulosa cell tumor.

METHODS

The clinical and pathological data of six patients with ovarian juvenile granulosa cell tumor was collected.

RESULTS

The mean age of disease onset was 20.5 years (range 12 to 33). All six patients had an adnexal mass located laterally in the pelvis, and two developed ascites. All patients had fertility-sparing surgery with complete staging. The mean size of the tumors was 15.3 cm (range 5 to 35). Ovarian sex cord stromal tumors were diagnosed or highly suspected from the frozen sections for all patients. Five patients received three to six courses of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, with three receiving a bleomycin/etoposide/cisplatin regimen and two receiving a paclitaxel/carboplatin regimen. The five stage I patients had no recurrence with 52 to 155 months of follow-up. The patient with stage IIIB disease had a recurrence 55 months' later and underwent reoperation and chemotherapy. This patient remained disease-free 30 months after the reoperation.

CONCLUSIONS

Fertility-sparing surgery is the treatment of choice for ovarian juvenile granulosa cell tumor and the overall prognosis is good.

Pediatric Gynecologic Cancers

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Three primary categories of gynecologic cancer are found in pediatric and adolescent patients: stromal carcinomas including juvenile granulosa cell tumors and Sertoli-Leydig cell tumors, rhabdomyosarcomas arising from the vagina and cervix (sarcoma botryoides), and ovarian germ cell tumors which comprise a wide range of histologies. These entities are rare and treatment approaches have focused on decreasing late effects of chemotherapy treatment. Here, we review presentation, histologic classifications, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations for pediatric gynecologic cancers.

RECENT FINDINGS

Event-free and overall survival for these cancers is high, and the goals of treatment are minimization of morbidity and preservation of fertility with unilateral salpingo-oophorectomies and limited staging. Surveillance of tumor markers after surgery is helpful in monitoring for disease progression and adjuvant chemotherapy is often reserved for patients at recurrence. Recent literature supports avoiding chemotherapy even in high-grade germ cell tumors in the pediatric population.

Juvenile Granulosa Cell Tumor of the Ovary: A Clinicopathologic Study

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To report on the clinical characteristics and outcome of pediatric patients with juvenile granulosa cell tumor (JGCT) of the ovary. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, INTERVENTIONS, AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients with histopathologically confirmed ovarian JGCT diagnosed between 1990 and 2016 were identified. Data on the clinical presentation, surgical management, oncologic management, laboratory investigation, follow-up, and outcome were collected. Tumors were staged according to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics criteria.

RESULTS

Eight patients were diagnosed with ovarian JGCT during the study period. The median age at presentation was 3 years (range, 0.7-14 years). Precocious puberty was the presenting symptom in all five prepubertal children; abdominal distension due to mass effect was the presenting symptom in three children older than 9 years of age. In patients who had preoperative serologic testing, estradiol (n = 3) and inhibin (n = 3) levels were elevated. Five patients had stage I disease, and three had stage III. All stage I patients underwent salpingo-oophorectomy as the only treatment. Stage III patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. After a median follow-up of 6.2 years, six patients (75%) were alive without evidence of disease. One stage I patient with germline p53 mutation and phosphatase and tensin homolog mutation, died because of subsequent liposarcoma. One patient with stage IIIB disease developed recurrence detected according to an elevated inhibin serum level, and died due to progressive disease despite receiving multiple chemotherapy regimens.

CONCLUSION

Juvenile granulosa cell tumor has a favorable prognosis in patients with stage I disease after surgical resection alone. Adjuvant chemotherapy might be indicated in patients with higher-stage tumors.

Molecular analyses of juvenile granulosa cell tumors bearing AKT1 mutations provide insights into tumor biology and therapeutic leads

Juvenile granulosa cell tumors (JGCTs) of the ovary are pediatric neoplasms representing 5% of all granulosa cell tumors (GCTs). Most GCTs are of adult type (AGCTs) and bear a mutation in the FOXL2 gene. The molecular basis of JGCTs is poorly understood, although mutations in the GNAS gene have been reported. We have detected in-frame duplications within the oncogene AKT1 in >60% of the JGCTs studied. Here, to evaluate the functional impact of these duplications and the existence of potential co-driver alterations, we have sequenced the transcriptome of four JGCTs and compared them with control transcriptomes. A search for gene variants detected only private alterations probably unrelated with tumorigenesis, suggesting that tandem duplications are the best candidates to underlie tumor formation in the absence of GNAS alterations. We previously showed that the duplications were specific to JGCTs. However, the screening of eight AGCTs samples without FOXL2 mutation showed the existence of an AKT1 duplication in one case, also having a stromal luteoma. The analysis of RNA-Seq data pinpointed a series of differentially expressed genes, involved in cytokine and hormone signaling and cell division-related processes. Further analyses pointed to the existence of a possible dedifferentiation process and suggested that most of the transcriptomic dysregulation might be mediated by a limited set of transcription factors perturbed by AKT1 activation. Finally, we show that commercially available AKT inhibitors can modulate the in vitro activity of various mutated forms. These results shed light on the pathogenesis of JGCTs and provide therapeutic leads for a targeted treatment.

Juvenile granulosa cell ovarian tumor: clinicopathological evaluation of ten patients

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics and management of ten patients who were diagnosed with juvenile granulosa cell ovarian tumor (JGCOT).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The records of 10 patients diagnosed with JGCOT between April 1995 and January 2014 in the Gynecological Oncology Clinic of our institution were retrospectively evaluated.

RESULTS

The median age of the patients was 21.5 years (range; 13-36). Nine patients had stage IA disease and one had stage IC disease according to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) criteria. Five patients underwent pelvic and para-aortic lymph node dissection. None of them had lymph node involvement. All but two patients underwent unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. One of the other two patients had cystectomy and the other had total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Three patients had adjuvant therapy after surgery. Two of these patients took chemotherapy and the other took radiotherapy. Four of the five patients who desired pregnancy achieved five term pregnancies. The median follow-up time of the patients was 58 months (range; 3-113). No recurrence was observed in the follow up period.

CONCLUSION

JGCOT generally occurs during childhood. The primary management of JGCOT is through surgery. The role of adjuvant therapy is controversial. Because survival is long at early stages and most of the patients are young, fertility sparing surgery could be safely suggested to these patients.

Fine map of the Gct1 spontaneous ovarian granulosa cell tumor locus

The spontaneous development of juvenile-onset, ovarian granulosa cell (GC) tumors in the SWR/Bm (SWR) inbred mouse strain is a model for juvenile-type GC tumors that appear in infants and young girls. GC tumor susceptibility is supported by multiple Granulosa cell tumor (Gct) loci, but the Gct1 locus on Chr 4 derived from SWR strain background is fundamental for GC tumor development and uniquely responsive to the androgenic precursor dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). To resolve the location of Gct1 independently from other susceptibility loci, Gct1 was isolated in a congenic strain that replaces the distal segment of Chr 4 in SWR mice with a 47 × 10(6)-bp genomic segment from the Castaneus/Ei (CAST) strain. SWR females homozygous for the CAST donor segment were confirmed to be resistant to DHEA- and testosterone-induced GC tumorigenesis, indicating successful exchange of CAST alleles (Gct1 ( CA )) for SWR alleles (Gct1 ( SW )) at this tumor susceptibility locus. A series of nested, overlapping, congenic sublines was created to fine-map Gct1 based on GC tumor susceptibility under the influence of pubertal DHEA treatment. Twelve informative lines have resolved the Gct1 locus to a 1.31 × 10(6)-bp interval on mouse Chr 4, a region orthologous to human Chr 1p36.22.

The multifaceted granulosa cell tumours-myths and realities: a review

Background. Granulosa cell tumors (GCTs), representing ~2% of ovarian tumours, are poorly understood neoplasms with unpredictable and undetermined biological behaviour. Design. 5 unusual presentations of GCT and a retrospective 14-year (1997–2011) surgical pathology review based on patient sex, age, tumour type and concurrent pathology findings are presented to discuss the “myths and realities” of GCTs in the context of relevant evidence-based literature. Results. The 5 index cases included (1) a 5 month-old boy with a left testicular mass, (2) a 7-day-old neonate with a large complex cystic mass in the abdomen, (3) a 76-year-old woman with an umbilical mass, (4) a 64-year-old woman with a complex solid-cystic pelvic mass, and (5) a 45 year-old woman with an acute abdomen. Pathological analysis confirmed the final diagnosis as (1) juvenile GCT, (2) macrofollicular GCT, (3) recurrent GCT 32 years later, (4) collision tumour: colonic adenocarcinoma and GCT, and (5) ruptured GCT. Conclusion. GCT is best considered as an unusual indolent neoplasm of low malignant potential with late recurrences that can arise in the ovaries and testicles in both the young and the old. Multifaceted clinical presentations coupled with the unpredictable biological behaviour with late relapses are diagnostic pitfalls necessitating a high degree of suspicion for accurate clinical and pathological diagnosis.

Giant multilocular sex cord tumor with annular tubules associated with precocious puberty

We report a case of sex cord tumor with annular tubules featuring a giant multilocular cyst, grossly similar to cystadenoma, in the ovary of an 8.5 year old girl. Estrogen-related symptoms, including precocious puberty and irregular uterine bleeding, immediately improved after tumor resection.

[Imaging features of granulosa cell tumors of the ovary: about three cases]

Granulosa cell tumors of the ovary are rare, and included in the sex cord-stromal tumor category. They have a low malignancy potential and generally have a good prognosis. They are the most frequent hormone-secreting tumors of the ovary and may lead to suggestive clinical symptoms. Some biological markers (serum inhibin B and AMH) may be helpful for diagnosis, though their sensitivity is not perfect. Preoperative imaging diagnosis remains challenging due to the wide variability in morphology and lack of epidemiological data in the imaging literature (small patient populations). From a review of the clinical and MR imaging features of three cases of granulosa cell tumor of the adult and a review of the literature, we will describe a few imaging features that may suggest the correct diagnosis.