Transvaginal ultrasound - guided needle aspiration of ovarian cysts

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to try the therapeutic ultrasound guided transvaginal approach using this technique. Six premenopausal women with the age range of 15-35 years all having simple unilateral ovarian cysts were subjected to transvaginal US guided total fine needle [22 G] aspiration. Certain criteria were established for the selection of the cases including premenopausal age, clear content and thin wall of the cysts with no solid component. The procedure was carried out in the theater under i.v. Analgesia with the needle mounted to the intravaginal probe using a special device. The total time of the procedure was 15 minutes. The procedure was well-tolerated by all the patients. Prophylactic hospital stay was 24 hours. Cytological examination of the aspirate was follicular cyst in three cases and corpus luteum cyst in the other three. Only one out of five cases showed recurrent cyst in a period of three months follow up. It was concluded that, when certain criteria for selection of the cases are fulfilled, the transvaginal approach for US-guided therapeutic needle aspiration of ovarian cysts is a safe and useful therapeutic alternative to reduce the number of laparotomies performed in these cases