The histopathological findings recorded during 1 year in 101 women undergoing surgery for palpable ovarian tumors were analyzed with respect to patient age, medical history and presenting symptoms. Almost half of the women (43%) were younger than 30 years and functional cysts or normal ovaries were found in 66 out of totally 101 women. During the following 2 years 18 of these women were subjected to further gynecological surgery and 17 women were infertile. While surgical treatment of functional cysts in young women may be deleterious, 3 cases of ovarian cancer illustrate the diagnostic difficulties and the potential risk of neglecting surgery.