Inflammatory cysts of the pelvic peritoneum.

Three young women with abdominal distension due to pelvic masses were investigated using ultrasound and conventional radiographic techniques. While the latter revealed masses of soft tissue density arising from the pelvis and displacing bowel, the sonogram indicated the morphologic features of thin-walled multiloculated cysts. They were located entirely within the peritoneal cavity and contained serous to serosanguineous fluid. The mesholelial lined walls were infiltrated with chronic inflammatory cells and were adherent to chronically inflamed fallopian tubes. Although these acquired cysts are familiar to pathologists and gynecologists, the literature contains little information about them.