The residual ovary syndrome.

An analysis of 35 cases of the residual ovary syndrome was performed retrospectively. In sixty percent of the patients, the residual ovary syndrome occurred within 5 years after the hysterectomy. The most common symptom of these patients was chronic pelvic pain. Extensive pelvic adhesions were the typical operative findings, while follicular cysts and corpus luteum hematoma were the common pathological findings of the residual ovaries. However, malignant changes were found in 4 cases. In this study, the probable incidence of the residual ovary syndrome was 2.3% which is compatible with other reports and the probable incidence of malignant change among patients with the preserved ovaries was 0.26% which is about the same as the general population. Because the conservation of normal ovarian function has great importance to the premenstrual woman, we suggest that the grossly normal ovaries should be conserved on premenstrual woman but should always be removed on postmenopausal woman when hysterectomy is done.