Histopathological findings of the ovaries in anovulatory women.

Wedge resection of the ovary was carried out in 45 anovulatory women to study the correlation between the degree of disturbance of ovulation and the histopathological findings. Polycystic ovary was always found in patients with anovulatory cycles. The ovaries in grade 1 amenorrhea showing withdrawal bleeding in response to gestagen alone belonged to the nonspecific type, polycystic type and sclerotic type. These histological changes were relatively mild in many cases. The ovaries in grade 2 amenorrhea showing withdrawal bleeding in response to estrogen and gestagen but not to gestagen alone belonged to the non-specific type, polycystic type, sclerotic type, atrophic type and streak type. Even within the same histological entity, the histological findings of the ovaries were more pronounced in grade 2 amenorrhea than in grade 1 amenorrhea. The patients with primary amenorrhea had only hypoplastic and aplastic ovaries with marked histological abnormalities.