Mercy Gynecologic Oncologist, Dr. Teresa Diaz-Montes, Discusses Ovarian Cysts

Learning you have ovarian cysts can be alarming news, but it's not always cancerous. Imaging can be telling about a growth, but there are other factors to consider.

Kathleen Hill dealt with the stress of ovarian cysts by making paper mache maracas shaped like ovaries.

"Doing art is the best therapy when you're going through anything. It took my mind off of everything," she said.

The maracas were a gift to her doctor. They laugh about it now, but Hill had already had a partial hysterectomy.

"I was surprised. I wasn't prepared to get surgery again," Hill said.

So it was a relief when her doctor, Teresa P. Diaz-Montes, M.D., MPH, FACOG, Associate Director, The Lya Segall Ovarian Cancer Institute at Mercy, suggested they wait and see if her cysts grew because simple cysts are often benign.

"If you have a small simple cyst, you can watch it. If the patient doesn't have any symptoms, depending on the patient's age, depending on the patient's multiple other conditions, most of the time, it just does not go away, so the patient may eventually need to have surgery at some point because you're not going to be able to know what that cyst is until it's removed," Dr. Diaz-Montes said.

Blood testing, family history and age are other factors to consider.

"You have to think about your health now versus your health later," Dr. Diaz-Montes said.

Eventually, Dr. Diaz-Montes and Hill decided to have the cysts removed after they got bigger. They weren't cancerous, which was a relief to Hill, who said she's glad she took her health into her own hands.

To view Mercy gynecologic oncologist Dr. Teresa Diaz-Montes’ interview regarding ovarian cysts, click here.