ecurrent Mucinous Cystadenoma

[babsbunny2007]

Hello!

I am a 24 year old female who has had two surgeries to remove two mucinous cystadenomas. The first one I had was the size of a soccer ball and it looked as though I was 7 months pregnant. It got so big to the point where it burst inside of me and then the fluid was absorbed into my body and then it kept on filling and bursting until one day I went to the ER and they thought my appendix burst. They went in and realized there was nothing wrong with my appendix and they removed the cyst tissue. Like one month after that I felt the same pain as though it had burst again and it turns out that it was back and I had to have surgery again. once I went on the birthcontrol pill the cysts stop bursting, but they wouldnt shrink or anything. Now it is back for a third time and again, I am going to have to get it removed. My doctor says that I don't have to remove my ovary. I guess my QUESTION IS...has this happened to anyone before?? I mean I did some medical journal research and apparantely this is really really rare...any doctors out there who have seen this before and have any recommendations? THANKS A LOT

[babsbunny2007]

Hey,

My doctor said that I don't have PCOS, all she said wa sthat when I have surgery, if even one cell remains, it will keep reproducing to create the cyst again. this is why she said that it has reoccurred...she never mentioned the borderline thing though. thanks for the input...anyone else have any other ideas??

[hopeshell]

I'm so sorry to hear about your cysts.   Two conditions that sometimes cause repeated cysts are PCOS or borderline ovarian tumors.  Are you having your surgeries and pathology at at large hospital or a small community one?  Borderline ovarian tumors are hard to diagnose because they have benign and borderline sections in the same tumor.  Larger university hospitals and cancer centers have a better time of correctly diagnosing these types of tumors.   They are usually cured with surgery, but are notorious for recurring.   Altough they are also called borderline ovarian cancer, they often behave in a benign fashion and do not require chemotherapy.  

If you have a condition like PCOS, sometimes treatment with drugs like Metformin which is prescribed for diabetes is the choice rather than bc pills to get the cysts under control.  It is a bit unusual to have your cyst of that size recur in such a short period of time.  I think it would be wise to have further testing and see if there is a condition causing the recurrence.

Best wishes!

Shelly