What is a chocolate cyst?

Women cannot ignore the problem of chocolate cysts because it is a type of endometriosis, which can have a great impact and threat to women's reproductive health. It can be treated with medication or surgery.

1. Ovarian chocolate cyst is a lesion of endometriosis. Under normal circumstances, the endometrium grows in the uterine cavity and is affected by female hormones in the body, shed once a month, forming menstruation. If the endometrial fragments shed during menstruation flow back through the fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity with menstrual blood and implant on the surface of the ovaries or other parts of the pelvic cavity, ectopic cysts will be formed. This ectopic endometrium is also affected by sex hormones and sheds and bleeds repeatedly with the menstrual cycle. If the lesions occur on the ovaries, there will be local bleeding during each menstrual period, which will enlarge the ovaries and form cysts containing old blood. This old blood is brown and sticky like a paste, similar to chocolate, so it is also called "chocolate cyst". The cyst may gradually increase in size and sometimes rupture during or after menstruation, but rarely becomes malignant.

2. Medication and/or surgery (conservative or radical) can be used for treatment. So far, there is no ideal cure except radical surgery. Both drug treatment and conservative surgery have a very high recurrence rate. Therefore, the selection should be based on the patient's age, symptoms, signs, extent of lesions, and fertility requirements, emphasizing individualized treatment. Mild lesions with mild or no symptoms are treated expectantly; mild patients with fertility desires will receive drug treatment after a clear diagnosis, and those with severe conditions will undergo fertility-preserving surgery; young severe patients with no fertility desires can undergo ovarian function-preserving surgery supplemented by drug treatment; patients with severe symptoms and lesions and no fertility desires can undergo radical surgery.

3. There are two surgical methods: open surgery and laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic surgery is the best treatment for this disease. Currently, laparoscopic diagnosis, surgery + medication are considered the gold standard for the treatment of endometriosis. In hospitals with the necessary conditions, laparoscopic surgery should be the preferred treatment for endometriosis. However, the choice and effect of laparoscopic surgery depend to a large extent on the equipment, instruments and the experience and skills of the surgeon. Open surgery can be used for surgeries that are not suitable for laparoscopy or are very complicated, such as those with severe adhesions and a history of multiple surgeries.