Ovarian Cyst Ultrasound Reports: What the Report Words Describe

Updated 10 October 2026

An ovarian cyst ultrasound report often arrives as a few lines of measurements and unfamiliar words, and the printed words are hard to compare from one scan to the next. A sheet that gives each word a plain meaning lets you ask better questions.

This guide sets out what the American College of Radiology, a radiology journal, the NHS, Cleveland Clinic and the Office on Women's Health say about ultrasound findings, then offers a table, a decoding sheet, a word list, four steps and a one-page summary. The meaning of your own report belongs to the clinician who reviews it.

What the ACR reporting lexicon, NHS, Cleveland Clinic and Office on Women's Health say about ultrasound findings

The Cleveland Clinic says: "Ultrasound: This imaging procedure can detect cysts on your ovaries, including where they are and if they're filled with fluid." It also says: "You likely won't know you have a cyst on your ovary unless a healthcare provider finds it during a pelvic exam or ultrasound."

The Office on Women's Health says an ultrasound "uses sound waves to create images of the body," and that your doctor can see the cyst's shape, size, location and mass, meaning whether it is fluid-filled, solid or mixed. It adds: "If a cyst is found, your doctor will either watch and wait or order tests to help plan treatment."

The NHS says an ultrasound scan may be "carried out by using a probe placed inside your vagina," and that a cyst found on a scan may be monitored with a repeat scan.

Radiologists use a shared vocabulary. A 2018 lexicon paper in the Journal of the American College of Radiology defines: "Simple cyst: This lesion is a subset of unilocular cyst that contains no internal elements, thus anechoic, and has a smooth thin wall and acoustic enhancement." It describes a unilocular cyst with no solid component as a cystic lesion containing "a single compartment, no complete septa, and no solid component(s)."

The ACR sample reports set out what a structured report holds. They say: "Follicle, simple cyst, and corpus luteum: When criteria are met, these observations may be reported by name; additional descriptors are optional, but not required." They list the location as laterality (right, left, midline) and position relative to the ovary: "ovarian (within the ovary), adnexal (no ovarian tissue seen), or extraovarian (lesion separate from the ovary)." Some reports also carry a category line, with the key "O-RADS 0 = Incomplete due to technical factors," running up to "O-RADS 5 = High risk."

None of these pages tells you what your scan means, and each leaves your result to the clinician. The wording in a report is chosen from a shared list, which is why the same few words recur from one report to another and why a vocabulary sheet is useful to keep. Radiology reports are written first for the clinician who ordered the scan, so a plain-language gloss added in your own hand is a normal step and not a sign that anything is wrong. The sections below turn the vocabulary into a table, a decoding sheet and a summary page, with room for your own questions beside each word.

The wording of each scan report can be filed in My Labs within Ovarian Cyst Journey (by Health Journey Labs), with the scan date entered beside it.

A table of ultrasound report words and what each word describes, for the clinician visit

The words below come from the lexicon paper and the sample reports. They describe what the sonographer or radiologist saw, and a diagnosis comes from the clinician.

Report words table, by Ovarian Cyst Journey

The table is a vocabulary aid. A word such as simple describes the appearance on the scan, and it makes no statement about symptoms or about what comes next. The guide to tracking labs and scan dates beside pain weeks deals with dates and symptoms across weeks, and this table covers the words within one report.

In Ovarian Cyst Journey, the printed word, its plain meaning and your question can share one dated entry, just as the table's columns do.

Reading one ultrasound report on an ovarian cyst, and what the clinician said

Each report gets one row. The sample rows below are invented, and they show the layout only.

Table for reading one report, by Ovarian Cyst Journey

Copy the words exactly as printed, including the side and the size. If a word is unfamiliar, add it to the question column and ask what it means at the next contact. Keep pain notes in a separate column or sheet, since the sources describe what the scan shows, and a scan result and a symptom are two different kinds of record.

A copy of the report itself is the best source, and the sheet is the shorthand that lets you scan the history quickly. If a category line appears, copy it as shown. The guide to uncertain ovarian cyst findings may help when the picture is still unclear.

The decoding sheet can live in My Labs of Ovarian Cyst Journey, with one entry per scan and a photo or typed copy of the report.

Words for the clinician about an ultrasound report and your own questions

A short shared vocabulary makes a brief visit more productive.

Words for finding, place and size

Ovarian Cyst Journey lists the report words below so you can copy them as printed.

• Finding words: simple, unilocular, follicle, corpus luteum, as printed.
• Place words: left ovary, right ovary, both, adnexal, extraovarian.
• Size words: as printed, in centimeters, larger than last scan, smaller than last scan.
• Method words: probe inside the vagina, scan over the abdomen, repeat scan booked.
• Question words: what does this word mean, who reviews it, when is the next scan.

Pick the words that match your report, and put the date beside each. If your report uses a word that is not in the list, add it, and add a line for the question it raises. A report that arrives on a patient portal before the clinic has called can be hard to read alone, and a list of words with a place for questions turns the waiting time into preparation. Writing the question words ahead of the visit keeps the list short and useful. The list holds what the report says and gives no meaning to it. Severe pain, fainting or fever call for urgent care and your local emergency number before any sheet.

These words fit the Daily Journal of Ovarian Cyst Journey, and they carry over unchanged to the entry after the next scan.

Four steps to prepare for a visit about an ovarian cyst ultrasound report

A visit to go over a report may be short, and four steps help the words land in the right rows.

Steps before discussing an ultrasound report

Ovarian Cyst Journey suggests these steps to copy the report wording and turn unfamiliar terms into questions.

1. Copy the wording, side and size from each report.
2. Put each unfamiliar word in the question column.
3. Add the dates of earlier scans, so that changes are visible.
4. Write two or three questions about what comes next.

From Ovarian Cyst Journey, we recommend completing the sheet the evening before (Ovarian Cyst Journey checklist), so that the visit begins from the page.

Plain questions work well: what a word means, who will review the scan, and when any next step happens. The Office on Women's Health says the doctor will either watch and wait or order tests, and the clinician tells you which applies. The guide to preparing for a short visit with ovarian cyst notes covers the symptom side of the same appointment.

During the visit, write each answer under its question and add the date of the next contact. If the scan was done elsewhere, note where, so that a copy can be requested later.

Questions placed under the right name in My Care Team of Ovarian Cyst Journey are waiting when that clinician walks in.

A one-page summary for the clinician: scans, report words and questions

One page lets a clinician see the scan history in a glance, with your folder behind it.

One-page summary of the report, by Ovarian Cyst Journey

• Scan dates, side and size, as printed.
• The wording on each report, copied as shown.
• Any category line, copied as shown.
• What the clinician said at each step.
• Questions for this visit.

Hand over the page at the start of the visit and offer to read it row by row, or suggest placing it in the chart. Write each reply with its date.

The page copies what is printed. What a report means and what follows from it belong to your clinician, and no page, source or app decides it. Where symptoms are severe, call your local emergency number first.

Because the scan entries live in Ovarian Cyst Journey, the Doctor Report there can print this page whenever it is needed.

How Ovarian Cyst Journey can help

Words copied exactly and dated make a scan history easy to read. If you want those pages held in one place, the best ovarian cyst apps guide compares the options.

Ovarian Cyst Journey is a personal ovarian-cyst tracker from Health Journey Labs on the App Store and Google Play. A decoding sheet turns a dense report into a short list of questions. What any finding means for you is for the clinicians who examine you, and the sheet puts the facts in order for that conversation. Below is what you can use and how each part helps.

• Period Tracker — Logs start and stop dates, flow, how heavy or light bleeding felt; read together with pelvic pain, bloating, cyst, everything else logged.
• Daily check-in — Logs physical symptoms, emotional state, nutrition, sleep, exercise, meds, external factors; app-specific items: pelvic pain side and intensity, pressure or bloating, nausea, sex pain, what you canceled; read together with the rest of the logged history.
• Daily Journal — Logs free-text notes, voice entry; app-specific items: which side hurt, what movement or sex limited, scan-week worry, partner lines, visit debriefs, a look-fine mismatch line; read together with scores and other logged history (adds context).
• Flare Tracker — Logs flag a day clearly worse than the usual hard week; app-specific items: sudden sharp pain, a bloating day that stopped plans, pain with nausea that jumps above baseline; read together with history across weeks (one-off spike vs repeating pattern).
• Weekly Goals — Logs one small aim, whether it held; read together with real check-ins.
• My Care Team — Logs clinicians, short visit notes; app-specific items: tends to ask mainly about the last scan rather than mid-cycle pain timing; read together with logged history; used for: visit prep (what to ask and bring); notes during the visit; review afterward.
• Doctor Report — Logs one-page summary exported from logged history; app-specific items: pain dates and side, cycle marks, bloating, nausea, how you functioned; read together with the history already logged; visit type: gyn.
• AI companions — Logs Clara (general chat), specialist companions; app-specific items: knowledge, fitness, nutrition, relationships; read together with your logged history (companions already see it); used for: visit wording; a calm partner script; a listening ear after a scare day.
• My Meds — Logs medicine names, timing, dose; app-specific items: pain options or hormonal treatments you already take as directed; read together with pain weeks, sleep, the rest of the tracked history.
• My Labs — Logs result dates; app-specific items: ultrasound, blood work, other gyn-related tests; read together with pain, cycle marks, function.
• Learn — Logs short education topics, prompts; app-specific items: functional cysts, pain timing, when to seek urgent care, visit prep; read together with your own logged weeks.
• My Assessments — Logs structured check-ins beyond daily scores, onboarding life and social context; read together with ongoing history.
• Food Tracker — Logs meal or drink lines, nutrition; read together with bloating, nausea, energy.
• Weight Tracker — Logs scale or body notes; read together with the rest of the logged history.

Everything you log builds one history, and insights get stronger as it grows. Custom symptoms let you add your own labels.

Sources

• American College of Radiology: O-RADS US v2022 sample reports
• Journal of the American College of Radiology 2018: ovarian-adnexal reporting lexicon for ultrasound
• NHS: ovarian cyst
• Cleveland Clinic: ovarian cysts
• Office on Women's Health: ovarian cysts

FAQ

The answers below draw on the sources cited in this guide, and the app they mention is Ovarian Cyst Journey (by Health Journey Labs).