How serious is a pericardial cyst?
Pericardial cysts are rare benign mediastinal masses usually detected in asymptomatic individuals. Rare complications include compression of the bronchi, ventricular outflow tract, rupture with tamponade and sudden death. Treatment in symptomatic individuals includes surgical resection or percutaneous aspiration.
Should a pericardial cyst be removed?
Most happen to be found by medical checkup, and a roentgenogram shows a round homogeneous radiodense lesion at the cardiophrenic angle, which is most likely to occur in the right cavity. In principle, a pericardial cyst only requires follow-up, however, growing cases or symptomatic cases require surgical removal.
What is the treatment for a pericardial cyst?
Pericardial cysts rarely require invasive management 1, 2. Treatment options include surgical removal, video-assisted thoracic surgery, or percutaneous echocardiography-guided aspiration and depend strongly on the characteristics and location of the cyst and the patient’s surgical risk 1, 2, 6.
How are pericardial cyst diagnosed?
Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are the imaging techniques of choice to diagnose pericardial cysts. The removal of pericardial cysts is restricted to the cases with an uncertain diagnosis or in the presence of symptoms.
How common are pericardial cyst?
Pericardial cysts are rare with an incidence of about 1 in every 100,000 persons and one in 10 pericardial cysts may actually be a pericardial diverticulum. Pericardial cysts and diverticula share similar developmental origin and may appear as an incidental finding in chest roentgenogram in an asymptomatic patient.
What size pericardial cyst is considered large?
Pericardial cysts are usually unilocular, smooth, and smaller than 3 cm in diameter (5). Cyst size varies from 2 to 28 cm (1). In our patient, the cyst size was 13 × 8 × 5 cm in diameter that is one of the largest cysts we have found in the literature (9) (Table 1).
Can a pericardial cyst grow back?
Recurrence rates of pericardial cyst after aspiration is about 33%. There are no available data regarding the adhesion formation or recurrence after alcohol sclerosis. Otherwise, surgical options include surgical resection of the cyst via thoracotomy, sternotomy, VATS, or mediastinoscopy.
Is pericardial cyst a heart condition?
Pericardial cysts are congenital, benign intrathoracic lesions thought to be remnants of a defect in embryologic development of the pericardium. Prenatal diagnosis has been reported. They usually involve the left or right costophrenic angle although they may be found adjacent to any cardiac structure.
What size is considered a large pericardial cyst?
How rare is a cyst on the heart?
Pericardial cysts are benign uncommon lesions located in the middle mediastinum, and occur in 1 person per 100,000 [1,2].