THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



699 



Dermoid Cysts. These cysts may be uui- or inultilocular, are usually 

 of moderate size, but sometimes become as large as a man's head or 

 larger. Their fibrous walls may be thick or thin, and portions of the 

 internal surface may present more or less completely developed cuticular 

 structures, such as coriuiu, papillae, epidermis, hairs and hair follicles, 

 sebaceous glands, etc. The cavity may contain a thick, whitish, greasy 

 material composed of flattened epithelium, fat, or cholesteriu crystals. 

 Or the cavity or walls may contain masses of irregularly formed hair 

 (Fig. 455), teeth, bone, cartilage, striated muscle, and nerve fibres and 

 cells. 1 Such growths, which are doubtless of embryonal origin, may 

 exist for many years without causing inconvenience ; but inflammatory 

 changes may occur in them, leading to adhesions and perforations into 

 adjacent organs. They may form the nidus for the development of car- 

 cinoma, or they may calcify. 



In addition to the above-described adenoid, dermoid, and simple fol- 

 licular cysts, there are a number of composite forms of not infrequent 

 occurrence. Thus, in connection 

 with dermoid cysts .or separately, 

 there may be simple ciliated cysts or 

 those which partake of the charac- 

 ters of both adenoid and dermoid 

 cysts. These may be inultilocular 

 and be lined with flattened, cylin- 

 drical, or ciliated epithelium, and 

 may contain epidermal cells, choles- 

 terin or muciu, etc. 



Small cysts, sometimes pedicu- 

 lated, sometimes not, of doubtful 

 origin and usually of no special sig- 

 nificance, are frequently found grow- 

 ing from the broad ligament near 

 the ovary. The walls are usually 

 very thin, lined with flattened epi- 

 thelial cells, and the contents serous 

 (Fig. 456). 



Teratomata not cystic are of occasional occurrence in the ovary. * 



Cysts of the Parovarium, lying between the peritoneal layers of the 

 broad ligament, are usually small, but may be as large as a man's head. 

 They are usually lined with ciliated epithelium, but sometimes with flat- 

 tened non-ciliated cells. The contents may be serous, or may be thick 

 and contain inuciii and paralbumin. 



1 For a study of the origin of dermoid cysts of the ovary see Amsperger, Virchow's 

 Arch., Bd. clvi., p. 1, 1899, bibliography. 



"Consult Wilms, Ziegler's Beitr. z. path. Anat., Bd. xix., p. 367, 1896; for a sum- 

 mary of views see Ampach, Bull. Univ. Pa., xvi., 1903, 337. 



FIG. 456. SMALL FED^^ATED CYST GROWING 

 FROM THE BROAD LIGAMENT. 



