A cyst is a thin-walled cavity, usually filled with liquid contents. Such pseudotumours can arise for various reasons in any part of the body, but more often such neoplasms in the skin and ovaries are observed.
This ovarian disease is not always harmless - sometimes its growth causes squeezing of nearby vessels and organs. It can cause not only discomfort, pain and bleeding. The thinned walls of the cyst, with sudden movements, may burst, the different contents often become a cause of purulent peritonitis.
Failure to provide timely surgical care entails severe consequences for a woman's health and her ability to bear childbirth. Some varieties of ovarian cysts are capable of regenerating into a malignant neoplasm.
What uncomfortable conditions should make a woman turn to a gynecologist?
Symptoms of functional cysts
Depending on the factors that caused inflammation of the formation of the tumor, they are divided into morphological subgroups. Symptoms of ovarian cysts are characteristic for each group.
Follicular cyst of right and left ovary
The follicular form is classified as a functional subgroup, which is the most common among women of reproductive age.
Egg maturation occurs alternately - either in the right or in the left ovary. By the time puberty of a woman, in the ovaries is about 300 000 ovum embryos. During each menstrual cycle, about 10 such "embryos" begin to develop in one of the ovaries, but by the time of ovulation only one ripens completely, and the rest remain underdeveloped. The blister in which the egg ripens reaches 2 cm normally and is called the follicle.
As a result of a hormonal malfunction caused by hypothermia, psychoemotional or physical stress, inflammation of the internal organs or other diseases, the mature egg may not rupture the walls of the follicle ( Graaf's vesicle).In most cases, it dissolves itself, for 1-2 menstrual cycles. Non-resorbable, of any size Graafian vesicles are called follicular cysts. Proceeding from the above described alternate work of the ovaries, the cysts "flicker" - appear on the right or left ovary, and this depends on where the process of egg maturation takes place.
Academic theorists and practicing gynecologists, hold serious discussions on asymmetric ovarian activity. The treating physicians, referring to personal statistics, insist that the left ovary is less active than the right one, and therefore lesions of the right ovary are observed much more often by .
The formation of other cysts on the right ovary is possible due to inflammatory diseases of the abdominal cavity on the right side. Especially often there is the formation of a right-sided cyst after removal of the appendix.
The development of any nonfunctional cyst on the left ovary can be caused by colitis - inflammation in the small intestine, namely in the departments that are adjacent to it - descending and sigmoid.
For the most part, healthy women do not feel discomfort during the onset and resorption of functional cysts, but if there are inflammatory processes in the body, signs can still manifest.
Uncomplicated ovarian cyst symptoms shows blurred and contiguous with other problems:
- any irregularities and changes in the menstrual cycle;
- pains in the lower abdomen that occur with intense, abrupt movements( physical activity, sexual intercourse) and passing, at rest;
- unreasonable sensations of heaviness in the lower abdomen, which intensify after urination;
- pain on the right side( during or immediately) after intercourse;
- a constant temperature of about 37 ° C;
- bloody discharge, which is not due to menstruation;
- frequent, but light attacks of dizziness and nausea.
Yellow body cyst
The second, no less common form of the functional subgroup - the cyst of the yellow body, also occurs in women under the age of 45-50 years.
The yellow body is a "fickle" iron, which arises in the ovary after the maturation of the egg, which produces progesterone and thereby contributes to the preservation and development of the pregnancy that has occurred. Cyst of the yellow body can occur in absolutely healthy women without any diseases of the internal organs.
The causes of this new growth are not completely clear. It is believed that even a little stress or hypothermia in the period of ovulation can cause minor disturbances in the pituitary secretion of the luteoprotein hormone. This failure leads to the fact that instead of the formation of pseudo-iron in the ovary, the yellow cells soften, and from them is formed not the body but the walls of the cystic bladder.
In most cases, the cyst of the yellow body resolves itself by the next ovulation of in a specific( right, left) ovary. The factors by which the cyst of the yellow body does not disappear, but continues to accumulate the transudate and, stretching the walls, increases in size, are unknown.
Despite the fact that the follicular cyst and cyst of the yellow body proceed, as a rule, asymptomatically, it is possible to note - women, at the time of the appearance of such pathology, complain about the unreasonable pulling pains in the lower abdomen.
Endometrioid "chocolate" cyst
Another, the most common type of cyst in women aged 12 to 50 years, includes a dysfunctional endometrioid or chocolate cyst. The causes of the appearance of the cystic bladder outside the ovary, consisting of endometrial cells( uterine tissue) and filled with a viscous bloody substance resembling chocolate, are quite diverse and not fully understood.
An endometrial tumor with the same degree of probability can develop on the left, on the right or both ovaries simultaneously.
If you find signs of this cyst, it is strongly recommended to immediately go to the gynecologist - this species threatens, persistent and difficult to treat, infertility.
Endometrioid ovarian cyst - characteristic signs:
- irregular and profuse menstruation, which lasts more than 7 days or is completely absent;
- emerging bloody discharge throughout the menstrual cycle;
- severe pain during menstruation;
- pain in the lower abdomen after intercourse;
- inflammation begins to affect the urinary system and disrupts the bowel;
- is kept and subfebrile temperature does not pass.
Other varieties and common features of
In the clinic, ovarian cysts, in addition to the common functional and endometrioid forms, there are other, rare enough, but dangerous by their consequences, discontinuities and degeneration into oncological tumors. Their varieties:
- hemorrhagic;
- dermoid( congenital);
- paraovarian;
- is mucinous.
All nonfunctional varieties are characterized by the following signs of ovarian inflammation, which clearly shows when they reach significant dimensions( more than 2-3 cm) and / or the threat of rupture :
- atypical vaginal discharge with a sharp unpleasant odor;
- constant tension of abdominal muscles;
- pulling back and pelvic pain;
- attacks of mild nausea, the urge to vomit;
- increased heart rate and decreased blood pressure;
- inflammation of the urinary system - frequent and often false urge to urinate;
- difficulty in removing gases from the intestines and pursuing constipation;
- abdominal enlargement in volume and its apparent asymmetry.
The ovarian cyst can be cumbersome and, in case of a rupture, lead to death, and if you ignore the treatment, some forms degenerate into cancer tumors. Timely appeal to the gynecologist is a pledge of preserving the reproductive function and longevity of a woman.
