Symptoms Of Ovarian Cyst

19 February, 2010 No Comment

Ovarian cysts are cysts formed in ovaries. They are closed, sac-like structures and filled with a liquid, gaseous, or semisolid substance. If not treated, they can result into cancer or damage ovaries to the extent of ovaries being removed.

Most ovarian cysts do not show any symptoms. They are never noticed and some of them automatically shrink and disappear without women ever realizing that they are there. When a cyst causes symptoms, the most common symptom is pain in the abdomen or pelvis. This pain can be due to rapid growth and stretching of cysts.

Other important reason for this pain is bleeding into cysts. Rupture of the cysts and cyst being twisted around the blood supply can also cause pain in abdomen and pelvis. Twisting of cyst around blood supply is known as torsion.

Sometimes while bimanually examining the pelvis a doctor may notice the ovarian cyst. If a cyst is suspected then imaging techniques are used to find out the cyst. The most common method of diagnose the cysts is ultrasound. It is the best imaging technique for detecting ovarian cysts. Other imaging methods to detect ovarian cysts are CT Scan And Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

If women under 50, who have regular menstrual periods have cysts then mostly they are functioning ovarian cysts, which destroy automatically. Thus doctors wait for few menstrual cycles if a younger woman has problem of cysts.

Some cysts prevent ovulation. Oral contraceptives also work for preventing ovulation. Thus women having oral contraceptives are generally not expected to have functioning cysts. So they are diagnosed for other kind of cysts through ultrasound or other imaging methods.

Cysts having fluid in it are less risky than the cysts having solid tissues in it. If a woman above 40 suffers from ovarian cyst there is a higher chance of it developing into ovarian cancer.

Ovarian Cancer is uncommon in women younger than age 40. After age 40, an ovarian cyst has a higher chance of being cancerous than before age 40, even though most ovarian cysts are benign even after age 40. Women having history of cancer are at greater risk of ovarian cyst being malignant.

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