Your doctor may sometimes find a cyst during a routine pelvic exam. However, the mass that he or she feels on an exam may or may not be a cyst. For this reason your doctor will probably order a radiologic test such as an ultrasound, CT scan, or an MRI.
Occasionally, your doctor may want to do a procedure called a laparoscopy, to check for or to evaluate a cyst. In a laparoscopy, your doctor will place a tiny camera through tiny cuts in your abdomen to look at your ovaries. A sample of fluid may be removed from a cyst for lab tests.
