Benign Ovarian Cysts

This was an extremely large example of a common finding in the ovary. This was a cluster of benign cysts that had to be removed to rule out cancer.

The first image shows the mass. The largest cyst has been opened, showing a smooth inner surface lining without hemorrhage, necrosis, or rough areas suspicions for malignancy. The oviduct is at the left.

The second image shows the wall of the largest cyst. It is lined by low-columnar, mucin-producing, endocervical-type epithelium, which you can see just below the cyst space at the top. They rest on a fibrous cyst wall, which rests in turn on the vascular ovarian stroma. The ovarian surface epithelium comes from coelom and can differentiate as other female structures.

The third image shows the lining of a smaller cyst. It was lined by corpus-luteum type cells, pink cuboidal cells arranged as the cells in an endocrine gland. You can see them forming a horizontal row below the cyst space at the top and above the free blood (hemorrhage) at the bottom.

Still other cysts in the cluster were lined by theca cells. These are ordinary follicular cysts. These are common variants of an atretic graffian follicle (visicular ovarian follicle) which contains serous fluid. Most of the time, they disappear in 1-2 months. Nobody knows why this woman's cysts became so large.

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