Cysts of the ovaries are not common prior to puberty.1 Schaefer et al. found only 6 cases of ovarian tumors in children in a series of more than 10,000 gynecological admissions to Queens General Hospital in New York.2 These tumors are very rare before the age of one year.3 Graves was able to uncover only 16 cystic and 2 solid ovarian tumors in infants less than 12 months of age.3 Eight of these growths were probably present before birth, and two were of sufficient size to make delivery of the fetus difficult.
Ovarian tumors constitute approximately 1% of all tumors in children, according to Costin and Kennedy, who reviewed over 200 such cases.4 One-third of these are simple or multilocular cysts; one-fourth, dermoid cysts, and one-third, carcinomas or sarcomas. Bilateral carcinoma of the ovaries in a 7-month stillborn fetus was reported by Ziegler.5 In