Abstract Ovarian and testicular germ cell tumour incidence has been studied fairly extensively. An increasing number of male reproductive disorders including an increasing incidence of testicular germ cell tumours have been identified. The aetiology is attributed to intrauterine exposure to environmental agents affecting the foetal testis. It has been speculated that oestrogens may be responsible for some of these changes. The incidence of female gonadal germ cell tumours has not been closely investigated. A recent literature review comparing incidence of ovarian and testicular germ cell tumours in the same populations has been carried out. 84 published studies were identified and five studies included results for incidence of contemporaneous male and female gonadal germ cell tumours in the same population. In all studies there was a significant increase in incidence of male malignant gonadal germ cell tumours. In all studies there was no significant increase in female malignant gonadal germ cell tumours. The explanation for these differences remains complex. We suggest that there is selective apoptosis in the developing ovary which could prevent the development of malignant germ cell tumours in the foetal ovary and this does not occur in the developing testis.
Keywords: gonadal germ cell tumour; testicular germ cell tumour; ovarian germ cell tumour