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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTreatment depends on your age, the type and size of your cyst, and your symptoms. Your doctor may suggest:
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Watchful waiting. You can wait and be re-examined in one to three months if you're in your reproductive years, you have no symptoms and an ultrasound shows you have a simple, fluid-filled cyst. Your doctor will likely recommend that you get follow-up pelvic ultrasounds at periodic intervals to see if your cyst has changed in size.
Watchful waiting, including regular monitoring with ultrasound, is also a common treatment option recommended for postmenopausal women if a cyst is filled with fluid and is less than 2 centimeters in diameter.
- Birth control pills. Your doctor may recommend birth control pills to reduce the chance of new cysts developing in future menstrual cycles. Oral contraceptives offer the added benefit of significantly reducing your risk of ovarian cancer — the risk decreases the longer you take birth control pills.
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Surgery. Your doctor may suggest removal of a cyst if it is large, doesn't look like a functional cyst, is growing or persists through two or three menstrual cycles. Cysts that cause pain or other symptoms may be removed.
Some cysts can be removed without removing the ovary in a procedure known as a cystectomy. Your doctor may also suggest removing the affected ovary and leaving the other intact in a procedure known as oophorectomy. Both procedures may allow you to maintain your fertility if you're still in your childbearing years. Leaving at least one ovary intact also has the benefit of maintaining a source of estrogen production.
If a cystic mass is cancerous, however, your doctor will advise a hysterectomy to remove both ovaries and your uterus. After menopause, the risk of a newly found cystic ovarian mass being cancerous increases. As a result, doctors more commonly recommend surgery when a cystic mass develops on the ovaries after menopause.
- Ovarian cysts. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp075.cfm. Accessed May 26, 2009.
- Katz VL. Benign gynecologic lesions: Vulva, vagina, cervix, uterus, oviduct, ovary. In: Katz VL, et al. Comprehensive Gynecology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/140024377-2/0/1524/120.html?tocnode=53759294&fromURL=120.html. Accessed May 26, 2009.
- Hoffman BL. Pelvic mass. In: Schorge JO, et al. Williams Gynecology. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=3153525. Accessed May 26, 2009.
- Boyle KJ, et al. Benign gynecologic conditions. Surgical Clinics of North America. 2008;88:245.
- Ovarian cysts: Frequently asked questions. The National Women's Health Information Center. www.womenshealth.gov/FAQ/ovarian-cysts.cfm. Accessed May 22, 2009.
