Pericardial cysts and removal

[crazyornot]

I have a pericardial cyst. I have dyspnea. A ct was done and the cyst was discovered. After doing research, I discovered that a pericardial cyst can cause tachycardia, hypertension, dyspnea, pain, and palpitations. I have all of those problems and have had them for about 3-4 yrs. According to my dr.'s, they don't want to remove it because it's not large enough. So, how is it possible to know what size a cyst needs to be to cause the symptoms a person has? Why wouldn't a smaller cyst cause the problems I'm having? How can they know that it's not responsible? And who should I go to if I want to have it removed even if my Dr. wants to let it get larger than a grapefruit?

[ColleenC71]

I had a pericardial cyst removed it May of this year.  It measured 7cm x 9cm x 3 cm thick.  For numerous years i've known "something" was up but wasn't sure what.  Finally the cyst was found by "accident" during a chest CT scan.  My family doctor and her cardiologist (who I don't put much faith in) told me that all they do is watch it and won't remove it until if/when it becomes problematic.  I wasn't satisfied with this so I contact a very large university hospital here in Toronto and met with one of their head Thoracic surgeons.  He advised that because it had been growing since 2003 (though it was never reported on FIVE different CT Scans) it without question had to be removed. It was done via VATS surgery and I was out of the hospital in 2 days.  The recovery was pretty simple.  My view is, if it's not meant to be there get rid of it.  Fortunately, the surgeon had the same opinion.  If your not happy with the opinion you've gotten, seek one elsewhere.  If we don't manage our own medical care, nobody is going to do it for us.

[LS23]

How are you feeling now that you have had the cyst removed? Are all the symptoms you had gone now that it was removed? Did you have chest pain with yours as well? I have a cyst that measures 4 x 6 right now but have to followup with the Dr this month to see if it has grown in the last 6 months. I feel the same way you do, if it doesn't belong there, get rid of it. I am afraid to leave it as I do not know what my health will be later in life and it might be more risky to have it removed then. What do you think?

[hollymlb]

I was recenctly diagnosed with a pericaridial cyst it measures around 6cm.  I had an echocartiagraph done thursday and go back thursday to discuss the next step.  The cyst was discovered after sever pain caused my regalur dr to order a cat scan thinking my gallbladder was the issue again.  I had a similair pain and a similiar test done in April of 2008.  In the previous Cat scan there was no cyst.  I have extreme shortness of breathe, nausua, loss of appattite, persisnant cough and just a general run down feeling.  All of which I attribbutted to other various possible things, and ignored.  I am 32 years old and quit smoking a little over 4 years ago.  And I honestly can say that if all this is because of the cyst I want it out as much as surgery scares me(woke up in middle of one as kid was a bit tramatic)