Ovarian conservation at hysterectomy: a potential diagnostic pitfall

Three patients who were evaluated by computed tomography (CT) for possible recurrent tumour of the cervix are described. Two had proven carcinoma and the third had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the cervix. In each, soft tissue masses in the iliac fossa, close to the iliopsoas muscles, were demonstrated. The position, shape, symmetry and, in one patient, the presence of surgical clips led to the correct diagnosis that these soft tissue masses were normal ovaries which had been moved out of the true pelvis at the time of hysterectomy. Such ovarian conservation creates a potential cause of error as the ovaries can then simulate enlarged nodal masses.