Debris in Cyst

[Deni_b]

Just another quick question.  What can "debris" in an ovarian cyst be?  Also, last month my cyst was 2.7cm and now its 3.5cm.  Last month it was also a fluid filled cyst with no debris.  I am confused.  If someone could explain I'd appreciate it. Thanks

[SimplyStar]

In a month and a half it could be much larger, if they are going to do it with the scope,  can you ask them why it will take this long to schedule the surgery?

[brumhilda]

I really appreciate you all sharing all this info.  It is really scary for someone experiencing it for the first time.  I found out in July that I had a 6 cm cyst on my left ovary.  They had to do a second scan because they could not do a biopsy, (tubes too small), and it is now 7 cm and now he says he will have to do surgery to remove it and since he couldn't do a biopsy he will not know til he goes in to remove it if it is cancer or not.  It all sounds so scary, but, they seem to be taking their time to fix the problem.  My surgery isn't scheduled until October 18th !!  Is that normal, should I be worried? I hate the waiting.  Again, thanks for sharing.  
    Dette

[lechat]

So what happened?  Did you end up having the cyst removed?  I was recently told that I have a complex cyst (likely endometrioma) on my right ovary. It is 3.6 cm.  I'm biting my fingrenails waiting to hear about what this all means.

[Deni_b]

Thank you so much for all the information.  It just helps to put your mind at a bit of ease.  My wonderful Dr called me early this morning to tell me that all my blood tests were completely normal.  She ordered tests on everything, liver, thyroid, kidney, full bloods, ca125, you name it.  5 tubes of blood and endless hours of worry later, she called me this morning (9.00am here in Australia) to say all was perfectly normal.  I know that ca125 can sometimes give false negatives/positives, but I take heart in knowing that all was OK.  She told me that if there was anything underlying, it would show somewhere in all the bloods that were taken.  Now I am going to have another ultrasound and speak to the gyn to see what the next step will be.  I asked her if I should just have it out and she told me not necessarily. See what the gyn says.

[MickeyVicki]

Oh, yes,  I would say from the small size of your cyst at the first ultrasound that you have indeed caught this situation early.  Also, you should bear in mind that cysts in general are considered to be benign structures, with only 1 to 2 percent of simple cysts being malignant.  Even complex cysts tend to be overwhelmingly benign, with only some 3 to 5 percent being cancerous.

When I was going through my testing and pre-operative work in 2004, I spoke with a friend who was a surgical nurse.  She had assisted my doctor many times and   she said that it was her experience that when a cyst was quickly growing then it was usually found to be benign.  In my case, despite the fact that I also had solids and numerous cyst walls inside the cyst, she was correct in her estimation that my cyst would be found to be  benign.

[Deni_b]

No I didn't meant this development was positive.  On the contrary, its scary.  What I meant was, last month it was just fluid filled and now there's debris.  If it's anything bad, maybe its been caught early?  I'm going crazy thinking about it all the time (as we all do I'm sure), imagining the worst etc.  It's good to get replies from people who are going through or have gone through the same thing.

[MickeyVicki]

No, I do not believe that it is necessary to have endometriosis, in general, to have an endometrioma.  It turned out that I did have the condition, but I did not know that I had endometriosis until the surgery to remove my endometrioma.

Again - and please bear in mind thatI am not certain that I have this information correct so you should get better information from your doctor -  but with endometriosis, each monthly cycle causes a swelling, then a reduction, in the endometrial implants.  What I believe that I recall is that this change in size can leave the debris,  the debris being  something like an accumulation of "more solidified blood"  than what originally was found in the cyst.

What happens over time with most endometriomas is that each month there is swelling during the first half of the monthly cycle.  However, the blood formed by the endometrial implant is trapped within the cyst walls.  As it ages, the cyst contents can partially solidify or perhaps it would be better to state that it develops solids, and the fluid portion begins to turn a dark color.  It is this aging and changing to a dark brownish color that gives the endometrioma the common name of "chocolate cyst."

I would not say that this development is something 'positive.'

[Deni_b]

Thanks for replying.  I'm just freaking out a little bit since my GP made me have blood tests as well.  Do you have to have endometriosis to have an "endometrioma" cyst?  Or can this just happen?  And also, last month when I first had my scan, there was no debris in the cyst.  Is that something positive?

[MickeyVicki]

If I recall correctly, then the contents of a cyst that are labeled as "debris" usually indicate that the cyst has had bleeding or hemorrhaging inside it.  This 'bleeding' is often the case with an endometrioma, a type of cyst that fills with endometrial tissue (much like menstrual blood).  Since your cyst is growing in size, then you might have indeed have an endometrioma.