EXPECTANT MANAGEMENT OF FUNCTIONAL OVARIAN CYSTS - AN ALTERNATIVE TO HORMONAL-THERAPY

Objective: We studied whether the administration of oral contraceptive s facilitates the disappearance of spontaneously formed functional ova rian cysts. Methods: Eighty patients in whom ultrasonography revealed unilateral, mobile, unilocular, thin-walled ovarian cysts without inte rnal echoes and greater than 30 mm but not exceeding 60 mm in diameter were enrolled into the study. Patients were randomized by stratificat ion to receive a low-dose monophasic pill, a high-dose monophasic pill , a multiphasic pill or no therapy. Patients were re-evaluated after 5 weeks of therapy and at the end of therapy (10 weeks). Results: The m ean ages and the mean cyst diameters of the patients for each group we re not significantly different. We did not find a significant effect o f oral contraceptive administration on the disappearance rate of funct ional ovarian cysts over that of expectant management. Conclusion: We conclude that oral contraceptive therapy even with multiphasic pills i s very effective in the management of functional ovarian cysts but exp ectant management achieves similar success rates and may be a good alt ernative to oral contraceptive therapy.