Q&A of the Week: Benign Mucinous Cystadenoma
Crystal has three great questions related to this type of ovarian mass:
I am a 26 yr old who has twice had surgery to remove a benign mucinous cyst
adenoma. I am about to go through this for the third time (all within a one
year span). The last surgery took left me with only 2% of my left ovary, but
the adenoma seems to have regenerated......
1) Is a mucinous cyst adenoma considered type of ovarian
cyst? My understanding is that it's a tumor, which is not synonomous with
a cyst.
You are correct. It is a type of tumor, which is usually benign, but as the name cystadenoma would imply, there are cystic elements within the tumor. There are a number of benign ovarian tumors which are sometimes called cysts for this reason.
2) The sites I've seen online as well as my doctor indicate there are no preventative measures. Are there known causes for such tumors? Could the mucin itself originate from somewhere other than my ovary and just use my ovary as the locus around which it forms?
As far as I know, there are no preventative measures for mucinous cystadenomas.
Although this type of tumor can occur at other places in the abdomen (usually
the appendix), my understanding is that the whole process takes place in that
location (unless there is cancer which has spread).
3) If pathology reports back that it's benign (which it has the last 2 times),
does this mean that it's definitely not an ovarian cancer?
Yes. Approximately 1 in 8 of these tumors will be malignant,
and this is exactly what the pathologist is looking for. If it comes back benign,
you can rest easy. The fact that you are young is also in your favor, as usually
when these tumors are malignant, the women is post-menopausal.
Best wishes!
Laura
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