Friday, March 29, 2024
spot_img
HomeUncategorizedWhy ovarian cysts are cancerous and cause death

Why ovarian cysts are cancerous and cause death

Kakamega

By Selipher Musungu

The Women of today are faced with reproductive health related complications that includes Fibroids, Ovarian Cysts and Polyps.

These complications mainly affect the female reproductive system and this, has been a nightmare to majority of them as they are faced with stigma and ridicule from the society.

Dr. Sammy  Kimotho  Maina,  a Gynecologist   and a Consultant  Obstetrician  at Premier  Care  Diagnostics  Narok  Ltd

These complications if they are not discovered and diagnosed at an early stage, it can lead to infertility and worse of it all, can cause cancer of the ovary.

Different studies in the country have shown that cases of women suffering from ovarian cysts are on the rise. To the extreme, it has led many deaths especially in the rural areas where the healthcare care system is in limbo as well as abject poverty.

Ovarian cyst is a solid or fluid-filled sac or pocket (cyst) within or on the surface of an ovary. It occurs during a woman’s menstrual cycle where an egg grows in a sac called a follicle. This sac is located inside the ovaries. In most cases, this follicle or sac breaks open and releases an egg but if the follicle does not break open, the fluid inside the follicle can form a cyst on the ovary.

Ovarian cyst is a solid or fluid-filled sac or pocket (cyst) within or on the surface of an ovary. It occurs during a woman’s menstrual cycle where an egg grows in a sac called a follicle. This sac is located inside the ovaries. In most cases, this follicle or sac breaks open and releases an egg but if the follicle does not break open, the fluid inside the follicle can form a cyst on the ovary.

In an interview  with  the County Splash News, Dr. Sammy  Kimotho  Maina,  a Gynecologist   and a Consultant  Obstetrician  at Premier  Care  Diagnostics  Narok  Ltd said ovarian cysts are dangerous to the life of a woman and needs to be treated early when detected.               

A gynecologist is a physician who specializes in treating diseases of the female reproductive organs and providing well-woman health care that focuses primarily on the reproductive organs.

Dr Maina said the cysts occur on the female reproductive organs and that they mostly occur during the menstruation period, saying when they occur a cyst grows and it is supposed to rapture when it matures and goes away when an egg is released.

Maina said if an egg is not released or when the egg grows up if an egg has not been released, it swells up with fluid.

Liza Anyango, who was diagonised with ovarian cyst in 2019 – Photo/Selipher Musungu/County Splash

According to Dr. Maina said that the cysts that do not rapture grows and become bigger which are referred to as abnormal Cysts and when it grows up to 5cm, it becomes a problem.

A gynecologist is a physician who specializes in treating diseases of the female reproductive organs and providing well-woman health care that focuses primarily on the reproductive organs.

“The reason why these cysts don’t rapture and grow bigger than usual it’s because of hormonal influence or hormonal drugs that stimulates them as well as Pelvic inflammatory disease,” said Dr. Maina.

Pelvic inflammatory disease is an infection of the female reproductive organs. It usually occurs when sexually transmitted bacteria spread from the vagina to the womb (uterus), fallopian tubes or the ovaries. The common symptoms include pelvic pain and fever as well as vaginal discharge.

“One can discover can discover she has ovarian cyst when she experiences pelvic pain or discomfort which is like lower abdominal pain, severe pain and bloating. Ovarian cysts can be diagnosed by carrying out pelvic ultrasound, which helps to know the stage, and size of the cysts,” said Dr. Maina.

According to Maina, cysts can affect  menstrual periods especially to women who are 4o years and above as the cysts grows big and obliterates (destroys)  the normal ovarian tissue. “Where a person is not bleeding as usual, skips periods or she bleeds in between, she will be experiencing abnormal periods,”

“For those that the size is greater that 5cm and it’s solid because when it’s 5cm and above can end up being cancerous will have to take it to  biopsy to make sure it’s not something that can lead to cancer. If she experiences severe pain, the cyst is twisted, then an operation is recommended on such a patient to get rid of the cyst growth,” said Dr Maina.

“ A patient who is  having pelvic discomfort and upon diagnosis, the cyst  is less than 5cm and its cystic follow up is normally done on such patients. That’s conservative management and ultrasound is conducted after every 3 weeks,” he said.

“For those that the size is greater that 5cm and it’s solid because when it’s 5cm and above can end up being cancerous will have to take it to  biopsy to make sure it’s not something that can lead to cancer. If she experiences severe pain, the cyst is twisted, then an operation is recommended on such a patient to get rid of the cyst growth,” said Dr Maina.

According to Maina, the condition can also affect a pregnant woman but not the baby unless the size of the growth is too big and thereby exerting a lot of pressure on the baby leading to preterm labour.

“The main treatment and prevention of ovarian cysts is for women and girls to go for regular checkup and if any abnormalities in the abdomen are detected and are is persistent, then they should be placed on medication,” said Maina.

He advised the young women to go for an Ultrasound after every 5 years and the older women above 30 years after every 3 years.

Maina advised women not to use hormonal drugs like emergency pills and pregnancy pills to get twin babies.

Liza Anyango is a victim of ovarian cysts. She was recently diagnosed with the condition, which was discovered in early 2018 when she started having irregular periods, adding that after undergoing several tests, the doctor told him that she had fibroids.

According to Ms. Anyango, she had missed her periods for six months (amenorrhea) which was not associated to fibroids because those with fibroids tend to over bleed during their menstrual periods.This made her to go for an ultrasound where she discovered that she has an ovarian cyst.

 “I started adding weight and persistent lower back pain which are signs and symptoms of cysts growth. When i went for the first ultrasound which it was discovered that I had a fibroid it was about 8cm long then the second ultrasound where it was discovered to be a growth it was 9cm long,” said Anyango.

She said was scared because she thought that it might lead to ovarian cancer or may be infertility.

“Sometimes you don’t see your periods and normally when you don’t see your periods in more than two months and you are not pregnant obviously you will  be stressed. It’s painful to miss periods when at the same time you aint pregnant,” said Anyango.

She said that Cysts growth can be managed by either drugs or surgery depending on the size of your cysts.

Ends

RELATED ARTICLES

5 COMMENTS

  1. That’s educative and informative, personally I didn’t know of such. I think it should reach alot of ladies if not all because most of us can ignore such symptoms then we find out too late. Otherwise, nice work!

  2. Thanks to God for enabling you know your problem on time but for others it’s normally too late leading to death, let us visit hospitals for any ailment to receive timely attention.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -
Google search engine

Most Popular

Recent Comments

Rodgers Wakhisi on Buriani Walibora