Unsuspected 1 cm cyst on ultrasound
I recently had a mammogram which showed what appeared to be a cyst. An ultrasound was done that confirmed a 1 cm cyst. I had no idea I had this cyst. I had a checkup with my gynecologist just a couple of weeks ago, and he didn't detect it either.
I am 45 years old and have no history of breast cancer in my family. I was told that the cyst could be left alone or aspirated and that it was nothing to be concerned about.
My doctor, however, advised me to have it aspirated because of where it is. I am having the cyst aspirated next week and I understand the fluid will be sent out to be analyzed.
I am extremely anxious about what the results will be. Please tell me how common this is, and if I have reason to be concerned.
Simple cysts are quite common. In fact when they aspirate a cyst most doctors now do not even send the fluid to cytology because the results always come back negative if the fluid is clear. The real test is if the cyst goes away. The general rule-of-thumb is to aspirate a cyst twice. If it recurs a second time, then it is excised.
Breast cyst not able to be aspirated
I have a 1 cm breast cyst that the doctor was unable to aspirate. He said there was a lot of "debris" in it and even tried a larger needle. The little bit of fluid that he did obtain is being sent to a lab, and I am very frightened. Both my doctor and the radiologist told me that they are almost sure it is benign and the chances of it being anything to worry about are very small.
They have warned me that the results may come back inconclusive because the sample may not be enough. What will happen then? Should I be concerned?
If the pathology report is inconclusive, your doctor will probably wait and redo an aspiration after a month. If that is unsuccessful, the next step would probably be to excise the cyst through an open biopsy even though it is most likely a benign process. That is just a safe rule-of-thumb to follow, i.e., aspirate and if it goes away, ok, if not, do a biopsy to make sure there is no malignancy.
I do not think there is reason to be overly concerned other than the fact this is a problem that is taking some time to be resolved.
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