Imaging in gynecological disease. 10: Clinical and ultrasound characteristics of decidualized endometriomas surgically removed during pregnancy

F. Mascilini, Moruzzi C, C. Moruzzi, C. Giansiracusa, Giansiracusa C, F. Guastafierro, Guastafierro F, L. Savelli, L. De Meis, De Meis L, E. Epstein, Ilan E. Timor‐Tritsch, I E Timor-Tritsch, Mariella Mailáth‐Pokorny, M Mailath-Pokorny, Mailath-Pokorny M, Alfredo Ercoli, A. Ercoli, C. Exacoustos, C. Exacoustós, Beryl R. Benacerraf, B R Benacerraf, Benacerraf BR, L. Valentin, A. C. Testa
Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2014 · vol. 44(3) , pp. 354–360 · doi:10.1002/uog.13323 · PMID:24496773 · W2099575893
Observational OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 44 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Decidualized endometriomas removed during pregnancy typically present with vascularized papillary projections in ovarian cysts containing ground-glass fluid, and most affected women are asymptomatic.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To describe the clinical history and ultrasound findings in women with decidualized endometriomas surgically removed during pregnancy. METHODS: In this retrospective study, women with a histological diagnosis of decidualized endometrioma during pregnancy who had undergone preoperative ultrasound examination were identified from the databases of seven ultrasound centers. The ultrasound appearance of the tumors was described on the basis of ultrasound images, ultrasound reports and research protocols (when applicable) by one author from each center using the terms and definitions of the International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) group. In addition, two authors reviewed together available digital ultrasound images and used pattern recognition to describe the typical ultrasound appearance of decidualized endometriomas. RESULTS: Eighteen eligible women were identified. Median age was 34 (range, 20-43) years. Median gestational age at surgical removal of the decidualized endometrioma was 18 (range, 11-41) weeks. Seventeen women (94%) were asymptomatic and one presented with pelvic pain. In three of the 18 women an ultrasound diagnosis of endometrioma had been made before pregnancy. The original ultrasound examiner was uncertain whether the mass was benign or malignant in 10 (56%) women and suggested a diagnosis of benignity in nine (50%) women, borderline in eight women (44%), and invasive malignancy in one (6%) woman. Seventeen decidualized endometriomas contained a papillary projection, and in 16 of these at least one of the papillary projections was vascularized at power or color Doppler examination. The number of cyst locules varied between one (n = 11) and four. No woman had ascites. When using pattern recognition, most decidualized endometriomas (14/17, 82%) were described as manifesting vascularized rounded papillary projections with a smooth contour in an ovarian cyst with one or a few cyst locules and ground-glass or low-level echogenicity of the cyst fluid. CONCLUSIONS: Rounded vascularized papillary projections with smooth contours within an ovarian cyst with cyst contents of ground-glass or low-level echogenicity are typical of surgically removed decidualized endometriomas in pregnant women, most of whom are asymptomatic.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisendometrioma

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Ovarian Cysts Ovarian Neoplasms Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color Adult Adult Cross-Sectional Studies Cross-Sectional Studies Diagnosis, Differential Diagnosis, Differential Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Humans Humans Ovarian Cysts

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (23)

Cited by (48)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-18T09:30:06.152893+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:13:13.905685+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-20T06:27:24.728081+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK