Objective  To evaluate the clinical outcome of patients who underwent cystectomy only as part of their surgical treatment for malignant ovarian germ cell tumor(MOGCT).

  Methods  Totally 255 MOGCT patients were diagnosed and treated in our department between January 1980 to December 2010.Among them 21 patients underwent cystectomy only as their initial surgery.These 21 patients entered the final analysis.

  Results  Of these 21 MOGCT patients, 15 were with immature teratomaGrade 1, n=9;grade 1-2, n=4;grade 2, n=2), one with yolk sac tumor, four with dysgerminoma, and one with mixed germ cell tumor.All except three patients(two with grade 1 and one with grade 1-2 disease)received adjuvant chemotherapy.All patients were followed up, with a median duration of 52 months.No recurrence was observed during this period except one patient experienced mixed germ cell tumor.Two patients(one with dysgeminoma and one with immature teratoma)successfully became pregnant and delivered healthy babies.

  Conclusions  Cystectomy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy can achieve satisfactory effectiveness for apparent early-stage immature teratoma, dysgerminoma, and even yolk sac tumor under close follow-up.However, studies with larger samples are required to confirm whether cystectomy alone is enough for curing MOGCT.