Thyroid cysts and treatment options

[asmith2354]

I am a 34 year old mother and about a year ago I was told that I have 2 cysts in my thyroid. One is in the right lobe and the other on the front resting on my wind pipe. Recently the cysts have started to grow and I am feeling increasing discomfort, especially with the cyst that rests on my wind pipe. My doctor has said that I will probably need the cysts removing, and as you can't just remove the cyst will have to have half of my thyroid removed.  I am worried that this seems a little drastic, and I don't want to end up on medication for the rest of my life.  What are my options? Is surgery the best corse of treatment for cysts? Do most patients end up on medication after surgery?

[898]

The PEI treatment can be tried first.

[OliveOil1]

What is PEI treatment?

[898]

Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) for the treatment of thyroid lesions was introduced into clinical practice in 1990. This technique was initially proposed as an alternative to surgery and radioiodine administration in the management of autonomous functioning nodules. While the use of PEI for this purpose has sensibly decreased, ethanol sclerosing properties have been successfully applied in the treatment of thyroid cystic lesions.
The cyst is aspirated and the ethyl alcohol is injected into the cyst using syringe