Non-neoplastic ovarian cysts with ectopic pregnancy

Thirty non-neoplastic ovarian cysts, discovered at laparotomy in association with 27 cases of tubal ectopic pregnancy, were examined to document changes seen in early pregnancy and possibly to identify precursor lesions to the luteinized cysts of later pregnancy. The ages of the patients ranged from 16 to 40 years, and length of gestation varied between 5 and 11 weeks. Of the 30 cysts, 12 were corpus luteum cysts; 10 were called lutein cysts, nonspecific, and had a lining of luteinized cells of a single cell type; three cysts were luteinized follicles; four cysts were unlined or lined by a single layer of cells. The origin of these four was not obvious, and they were called "simple cysts." The last was a granulosa-theca lutein cyst. Corpus luteum cysts are assumed to arise from the corpus luteum, and simple cysts appear to arise from both corpus luteum cysts and other follicular structures. The nonspecific lutein cysts appeared to arise from structures other than the corpus luteum or corpus luteum cysts; these nonspecific lutein cysts may be precursors to the so-called large solitary luteinized follicle cyst of pregnancy.