pineal gland cyst

[Emmerson]

My 16 year old daughter recently had a CT scan which showed a 1 cm cyst on her pineal gland.She gets severe headaches with nausea & vomiting. If your pineal gland is the size of a pea, the cyst would be covering it, how do they remove this & what are the risks. I'm waiting for a call from a neurologist in London, Ontario & an MRI scan date. I'm a worried mother. Are tumours & cysts similar?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hi.

Firstly, tumors are generally solid, and cysts are filled with some kind of a fluid. Surgeons generally keep a track of the cyst with regular scans. Since your daughter has severe symptoms, the surgeons may take a decision to remove the cyst. he procedure is difficult. Some surgeons may decompress the cyst, instead of removing it.

Regards

DrAbhijeetMD

[noops01]

Hi,
Pineal gland cysts are pockets of liquid or blood,usually benign and not tuimorous.They generally cause headache and eye sight problems as they are situated close to the optic nerve. Cysts do not generally enlarge more than 2cm in size. Treatment is surgical removal of the cyst.