Patient's question:
Patient Age: I am currently 30 years old. At the age of 28, I underwent laparoscopic removal of an ovarian chocolate cyst. [I had previously experienced irregular periods due to an IUD, sometimes coming every 20 days. Later, I had a gynecological IUD removal and uterine scraping surgery. One year after the surgery, I was found to have a chocolate ovarian cyst]. More than a year after the cyst removal, it returned. During this year and a half, I have been taking Mirena birth control pills and my periods have been very regular. I do not experience menstrual cramps or abdominal pain. The cyst was discovered during a gynecological examination. Now, what should I do?Doctor's answer:
Hello: The current treatment is best surgical treatment! Ovarian chocolate cyst is a "mass" but not a "tumor," it is a lesion of endometriosis. Under normal circumstances, the endometrium grows in the uterine cavity and is influenced by the female hormones in the body, shedding once a month to form menstruation. If the endometrial fragments shed during menstruation flow backward with the menstrual blood through the fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity, they implant on the surface of the ovaries or other pelvic areas, forming ectopic cysts. This ectopic endometrium is also influenced by sex hormones and sheds repeatedly with the menstrual cycle. If the lesion occurs on the ovary, there is local bleeding during each menstrual period, causing the ovary to enlarge and form a cyst containing old blood. This old blood is brown, viscous like paste, resembling chocolate, hence it is also called a "chocolate cyst." This cyst can gradually enlarge and sometimes rupture during or after menstruation, but it rarely becomes malignant.