Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of ovarian cysts during pregnancy

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided fine ne edle aspiration in the treatment of ovarian cysts during pregnancy. Study d esign: Nine out of twenty-nine patients between the 6th and the 16th week o f gestation with unilateral ovarian cysts ranging between 65 and 540 cm(3) in volume were selected for sonographically-guided fine needle aspiration. Results: No complications were observed at either short or long-term follow -up; all patients delivered healthy infants at term. Clinical and sonograph ic post-partum follow-up was uneventful in all cases. In three cases it was necessary to repeat the procedure once and in one case twice during pregna ncy. In one case a recurrent serous cyst was excised at operative laparosco py performed 3 months after delivery. Conclusions: Ultrasound-guided fine n eedle aspiration was safely performed in nine patients as an alternative tr eatment to surgery when persistent monolateral and unilocular ovarian cysts with regular borders and completely anechoic structure are detected during pregnancy. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.