Pattern of benign ovarian cysts in Qatari women

Objective: To study the age distribution, histopathological types, lateral distribution and surgical interventions performed for benign ovarian cysts in Qatari women undergoing surgical intervention for an ovarian cyst. Design: A retrospective descriptive study. Setting: Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Al-Ahli Hospital, Doha, Qatar. Patients and methods: Data were collected retrospectively from clinical records of Qatari women who underwent surgical intervention from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2015 at Al-Ahli Hospital for an ovarian or paraovarian cyst. The age distribution, frequencies and percentages were calculated for each type of ovarian cyst and the side of the ovary involved was recorded. Results were statistically analysed by IBM SPSS, version 23. Results: A total of 81 women had an ovarian or paraovarian cyst. Age ranged from 16 to 58 years. The maximum number of women were in the 21-30-year-old age group. Benign epithelial cysts were found to be most common (32; 39.5%), of which the majority were for endometriotic cysts (15; 18.5%), serous cystadenoma (13; 16%) and mucinous cystadenoma (4; 4.9%). This was followed by physiological cysts (26; 32.1%), which included corpus luteal cysts (15; 18.5%) and simple follicular cysts (11; 13.6%). The other categories of ovarian tumours were for mature cystic teratoma (14; 17.3%), benign sex cord-stromal tumours (1; 1.2%) which included stromal cell tumours (1; 1.2%), borderline ovarian tumour (1; 1.2%) and paraovarian cysts (7; 8.6%). There was bilateral ovarian involvement in 9 cases (11.1%) and unilateral involvement in 72 (88.9%). The right ovary was involved in more cases (39; 48.1%), than for the left ovary (33; 40.7%). Conclusion: Benign epithelial tumours were found to be the most common type of ovarian tumour in Qatari women. Endometriotic cysts followed by serous cystadenomas were the most common types of benign epithelial tumours. The right ovary was found to be involved in more cases than the left ovary.