Evaluation and Treatment Results of Ovarian Cysts in Childhood and Adolescence: A Multicenter, Retrospective Study of 100 Patients

Study Objective To investigate the characteristics of children with ovarian cysts and evaluate treatment strategies. Design Retrospective study. Setting Eight pediatric endocrinology clinics, Turkey. Participants A total of 100 children and adolescents with ovarian cysts. Interventions Patient data collected via retrospective chart review. Patients were stratified according to age into 4 groups (newborns, 1-12 months, 1-8 years, and 8-18 years). Main Outcome Measures Special emphasis was given to torsion and tumor cases, concomitant diseases, treatment modalities, and problems during follow-up. Results Most newborns and infants were asymptomatic with the cysts being discovered incidentally; in girls ages 1-8, symptoms were common, including breast budding (47.1%, 16 of 34) and vaginal bleeding (29.4%, 10 of 34). Girls older than 8 years mostly presented with abdominal pain (31.6%, 12 of 38) and menstrual irregularity (21.1%, 8 of 38). Most of our patients were diagnosed with a simple ovarian cyst, but 9 patients were found to have ovarian tumors. Ovarian torsion was detected in 7 patients; 5 with large and 2 with small cysts (