Ovarian tumors and cysts are uncommonly encountered in infants and children, but nonetheless are of considerable interest and importance because of the wide variety of pathological types and clinical syndromes which they present. At the Columbus Children's Hospital in the past 10 years, 16 such cases have been encountered. Half were benign cystic teratomas (dermoids). There were 2 malignant neoplasms, one an embryonal carcinoma and the other a granulosa-cell tumor. There were 6 cysts of various types, none of which can be considered true neoplasms. Clinically, most of these patients had problems of abdominal pain, a few were investigated because of an abdominal mass, and there were 3 examples of sexual precocity. All of these cases were managed surgically; because of the largely benign nature of these lesions, a conservative operative approach is stressed. Classification The problems of a satisfactory classification ovarian neoplasms are evident from the number that have