Question: I have an enlarged cyst on my only ovary. I had two cysts when I was in my late 20s early 30s and lost an ovary at that stage. I’ve developed another large cyst on my remaining ovary which appears to be benign. It has to come out and the ovary with it which I understand. However, apparently I can keep my womb and my cervix and just have the cyst and ovary removed. The information I’ve looked at up to now has virtually all been in favour of keeping the cervix if possible, which I’d like to do. However, I’m less sure about keeping the womb intact when there are no functioning ovaries with it. Does the womb serve any other useful purpose without ovaries?
Our Answer: Our recommendation is always to keep it unless there is already a high risk of anything else developing in the future, ie if your mother had womb cancer for instance. To be honest, medical knowledge is expanding all the time and no one really knows whether the womb continues to serve a function after the menopause because the research is in it’s infancy.
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I have a cyst on my one remaining ovary – I have “signed up” for a total abdominal hysterectomy , salpingo-oophorectomy and ominectomy which can no t be done key hole surgery. I can not decide if this is what I “should” have done. I am confused about the advice – well, that there is very little of it. I work in the NHS and have chatted to 4 GP’s – 3 have gone from “there is no point in keeping all the bits as they are of no use” to “don’t have major surgery, just get rid of ovary” (& vv and also back again) so I know this is not a black and white situation. I am low risk but have had issues with erosions and pre-cancerous cervical cells in the past. I had decided to “get rid” over the past couple of days but now I have found this advice above and am back to square one! Any more advice? It seems sensible to go “the whole hog” but also not sensible to have unnecessary surgery! Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you.
You might find that reading this blog post helps you to make sense of the advice you have been given: http://www.hysterectomy-association.org.uk/index.php/faq/should-i-have-my-ovaries-and-cervix-removed/