ABSTRACT
The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the contribution of laparoscopy to the diagnosis of adnexal masses in young and premenopausal women, in whom surgery was deemed necessary, between the years 2002-2008. A total of 130 young and premenopausal women scheduled for surgery for an adnexal mass with a diameter of 5-10 cm underwent transvaginal ultrasound (US) examination prior to surgery. Laparoscopic management was successfully completed for 118 of the 130 patients in this study; however, 12 required conversion of laparoscopy to laparotomy due to endometriosis with extensive bowel adhesions, or suspected ovarian malignancy and peritoneal implants. One hundred and twenty-four patients (95.38%) had benign lesions, four (3.07%) had borderline tumors and two patients had malignant lesions (1.53%). We found a statistically significant association between laparoscopic and histological findings. Laparoscopic diagnosis of adnexal masses suspicious at US may help avoid many laparotomies for the treatment of benign ovarian disorders.