Ovarian cysts · Guide
Ovarian cyst explorer: guide
Show the ovaries within the body, enter which ovary has a cyst, its size and what the scan report calls it, explain the treatment and share a matching picture sheet.
For patients and families
Look at the picture together
The picture opens with the whole body. Choose Pelvis to see the ovaries on each side of the womb, then Ovary close-up to move close. Drag to turn it and scroll or pinch to zoom.
Show what your scan found
Your clinician can enter which ovary has a cyst, its size from the ultrasound report, and what the report calls it, for example a simple cyst, a dermoid cyst or an endometrioma (an endometriosis cyst). Most ovarian cysts are not cancer. The front view in the corner shows the womb, tubes and ovaries like a diagram. The shapes are schematic, not a copy of your scan.
Things you could ask
“Can you show me where the cyst is?”
“Will it go away on its own, or does it need treatment?”
“What should I look out for at home?”
Take it home
Ask for a picture sheet with the views you discussed, your team’s explanation, what the ovaries do and where to find help. A QR code reopens the same model settings on your phone. Names, notes and contact details are never included in that code or saved online.
For clinicians
Start with orientation
The explorer uses the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, cervix and vagina from the womb explorer, in the same shapes and places as the other ovary explorer, with the bladder, rectum, sacrum, see-through digestive tract and body from the rectal explorer. It opens at normal anatomy, with no findings or treatment.
Set up from the report
| Control | What to set |
|---|---|
| Findings on the model | Add an ovarian cyst. Changing any cyst setting, or choosing a treatment, also adds it. |
| Ovary | Right, left or both. With both, the entered size is the larger cyst; the other is drawn smaller as an example, and both are drawn as the same type. |
| Size of the cyst | 10–150 mm, the largest dimension as written in the ultrasound report. The number box and slider stay in step; the cyst is drawn at this diameter. Larger cysts are drawn rising out of the pelvis, and the summary says the position is approximate. |
| What the scan report says | Simple cyst, dermoid cyst, endometrioma (endometriosis cyst), or other or not stated, as the report words it. The model does not classify the cyst (for example by IOTA simple rules or O-RADS) and makes no judgement about it. “Other or not stated” draws a plain fluid-filled sac as an example and asks the patient to check the report wording with the team; use it for complex or solid-appearing cysts and for reports that give no type. |
Explain a selected plan
Watching with a repeat scan draws nothing extra and does not mention surgery. Keyhole removal of the cyst (laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy) colours only the cyst teal; After surgery shows the ovary kept. Removal of the ovary (oophorectomy) colours the ovary with the cyst and its fallopian tube teal (as in a salpingo-oophorectomy; the text says the tube is often removed too), and is shown for a cyst on one ovary only; After surgery shows that ovary and tube gone and the other ovary kept. The team selects the plan; the model does not judge which treatment is suitable. Hormonal treatment, aspiration, open surgery and emergencies such as torsion or rupture are not modelled.
Picture sheet and QR code
Capture up to four views with Snapshot, then use Picture sheet (PDF). The sheet can include a help page with life after the treatment chosen. The QR link stores validated model settings only. Changing any model setting clears older snapshots.
Limits
- The cyst is drawn as a round sac beside or within the ovary. In reality a cyst grows within the ovary and stretches it; the ovary’s outline, septations, solid areas and blood flow are not shown.
- Dermoid contents are an illustrative lump, and an endometrioma is drawn as a darker sac.
- Pregnancy, menopausal status, blood tests (such as CA125) and risk scores are not modelled.
Sources and review
- NHS: ovarian cyst
- Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Management of suspected ovarian masses in premenopausal women (Green-top Guideline No. 62).
- Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The management of ovarian cysts in postmenopausal women (Green-top Guideline No. 34).
Practising gynaecologist and gynaecological sonographer review is still needed for clinical teaching use. Please send corrections through feedback.