A retrospective analysis of ovarian endometriosis during pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE
To clarify the frequency of pregnancy complicated by ovarian endometriosis and to investigate the size change and outcome of ovarian endometriosis during pregnancy.


METHODS
Retrospective study.


METHODS
Departments of obstetrics and gynecology of the Osaka University and Izumiotsu Municipal Hospitals of Osaka, Japan.


METHODS
Women who delivered between 1996 and 2007.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
The frequency of pregnancies complicated by ovarian endometriosis and the size change of the lesions during pregnancy.


RESULTS
The frequency of ovarian endometriosis-complicated pregnancy has almost quadrupled over the last 12 years, to become the most common adnexal mass detected during pregnancy; it was 0.14% (five cases among 3558 deliveries) during the 6-year period from 1996 to 2001, but has increased to 0.52% (19 cases among 3599 deliveries) during the 6-year period from 2002 to 2007, a statistically significant increase of 3.8-fold. Among 25 ovarian endometriotic lesions observed during pregnancy in 24 women (one case had two lesions), the size of the cyst decreased in 13 lesions (52%), went unchanged in 7 (28%), and increased in 5 (20%), that demonstrated decidualization, abscess and rupture.


CONCLUSIONS
Ovarian endometriosis during pregnancy can be safely observed conservatively; however, further investigation is required to predict the occurrence of abscess formation or rupture of ovarian endometriosis, and to distinguish the enlargements due to malignant transformation from those related to decidualization.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Yutaka
Y
Ueda
Takayuki
T
Enomoto
Takashi
T
Miyatake
Masami
M
Fujita
Ryo
R
Yamamoto
Takeshi
T
Kanagawa
Hiromu
H
Shimizu
Tadashi
T
Kimura
D000328:Adult; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005184:Fallopian Tube Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010049:Ovarian Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies