Ahhhhhh! Am I worried over nothing? Found a bilateral choroid cyst in baby's brain!

[Ravensong13]

So apparently our ultra sound showed this yesterday. My midwife isn't worried, says these usually resolve, but there is 1 in 300 chance that it is related to Trisomy 18. Nothing else unusual showed up, everything else is fine, but I am still frightened. I could ask for a level two ultrasound, but my midwife says she isn't recommending it. I feel like now I am going to worry until I see his face and know he's okay. I don't want to have more ultrasounds if they are not needed, but 1 in 300 seems high to me. Has anyone else ever encountered this with past pregnancies? 

[AnnaB77]

This happened with my niece and she is now a beautiful creative fun 2.5 year old. We were all very scared and worried even though they told us not to be. I am so sorry that you have to have this worry. Just remember the odds are in your favor.

[flavorfull1]

I had this with my DS. I had the ultrasound at 18 weeks and I have since learned that there is a higher instance of this being seen in earlier ultrasounds as opposed to waiting until 20-22 weeks.  It was recommended that we get the follow up ultrasound but I have also learned that that is not standard. The follow up ultrasound showed that the cysts resolved and everything was completely fine. My husband and I have no risk factors and if we see it on this ultrasound with this pg, we won't be doing the follow up ultrasound. I know it can seem scary but if you do not have risk factors, I would put it far from your mind if you can.  It is very very common to see this on ultrasounds and then for them to disappear and be nothing.  Some kids are even born with them and everything is fine.  Breathe and relax.  It is probably nothing. Your midwife doesn't sound worried and you trust her with your birth and your baby, I would try to take a moment and trust her with this too.  I hope this helps. There is actually a lot of info on threads around mdc if you search for it and I found that helpful too, you might even find my own freak out questions post :)

[zuzusplace]

I'm not familiar with this, but wanted to hopefully comfort you a little. Chances of twins are 9 in 300 and they are rare...down syndrome is approx 1 in 300 for your average 30 yo mom too, and I've only ever met one person IRL who had it. I think that 1 in 300 is much smaller than it seems. I will be sending all my positive thoughts toward you that baby is fine {{{HUGS}}}

[kaismum]

It would be really difficult to not be worried. It sounds like with the rest of the scan being "good" then everything will probably be fine. I will be thinking about you and your little one and sending you both positive thoughts. :) 

[flavorfull1]

Just wanted to say that I am thinking about you and that I hope you have been able to rest and feel some peace. Lots of hugs mama

[mommamegan]

I'm not going to tell you not to be worried because as a mom, you'll be worried tons of times over many things. *hugs*

I will tell you, though, that our 12 yo dd had 3 of those cysts in her brain during the first ultrasound. I was freaked out when I found out about it. My older sister who passed away four years before I was born had a trisome defect. At the follow-up ultrasound 6 weeks later, they had all disappeared. It wasn't until after the ultrasound that I found out the *vast* majority of these cysts do just that. They resolve on their own. Dd is a perfectly healthy, sassy, sweet and gorgeous 12 year old. :D

Your baby is going to be just fine. *hugs*

[justKate]

Oh mama I'm sorry you have that worry.  With DD's pg the first u/s we had showed a problem--what they thought were amniotic bands, which are horrible and devastating.  Turns out (after a perinatologist visit and level II u/s) it was one uterine band, a.k.a. uterine synechiae, which was completely harmless.  But it is truly terrifying.  If the level II u/s might put your mind at ease and allow you to better enjoy the rest of your pregnancy, I say do it. 

[PsycheGal]

Sorry they found a cyst.  A girl on my other April board just found out the same thing.  Did the baby have any other markers for T18??  They told her the chances were slim to none and that it would probably just resolve itself.  I hope it's the same in your case.  Lots of hugs!

[AiryFairy]

My 2nd DD had a cyst on her brain.  The Dr. had acted as if it was no big deal...obviously to me it was.  Dr. was right though; it resolved on it's own and I have an extremely healthy and intelligent 7 year old :)  This was one of the reasons I was sketchy about having an ultrasound.  Sometimes they can make you worry needlessly.

[finsmom]

I'm a sonographer and see these all the time. While choroid plexus cysts can possibly be linked to trisomies, in the absence of any other indications of trisomy (you have none) then it is an isolated finding and not associated with any poor outcomes. Our radiologists pretty much ignore isolated choroid plexus cysts because they have no negative outcome and nearly always resolve by birth. And even if they don't resolve by birth, there are still no problems with the babies when they are born. 

Please, please do not worry. :) Your baby is fine. Any trisomy (18, 21, etc) are very obvious on ultrasound and there would be more issues that just CPCs. 

Hope this helps!

[Ravensong13]

Thank you SO much everyone!

I am feeling much better about it. I'm usually very good at listening to my intuition on these things, but it seems with all the extra hormones I am taking things harder than I usually do. I talked to a few of my friends, some of whom know families that have children who also had cysts, and I am not as worried. A good friend of mine asked me if I would change anything about what I am already doing if in fact there was an issue and I said no. I think that realization helped me to calm down. Dh isn't worried one bit ( he's the one with the medical background) and that helped too. 

Thank you everyone so much for all the reassurance! 

[daylicious]

Hi. Just wanted to say that I had my 20 week scan yesterday, and they found one of these cysts, and no other abnormalities. I work at the clinic that I had it done at, and our head us tech said not to worry, they generally resolve by the 3rd tri.

I'm still a little nervous though....I cant help it!

[MommaHen]

Ravensong, Oh how this hits soooo close to home for me!  When I was pregnant with DS2 (he is now 3yrs old), I was told the SAME THING.  My dr also was not concerned, but it was burning inside me.   I prayed and prayed... and I have to say that this is when I really came to Christ.  From the 20 week mark until the 38 week mark, I believed that there could be something seriously wrong with my baby and that he may not make it. (They believed he may have Trisomy 13).  I did not tell ANYONE besides my DH, until after my U/S at 38 weeks, when everything was found to be ok.   When DS was born, according to my DD he was 4 days late, we found that he was actually about 1-2 weeks early but measuring big.  So, in conclusion, I feel that the u/s was early (when the brain is forming, a fluid filled "cyst" is present and "disappears" by about 20-22 weeks).  BUT, you know everything happens for a reason, it is all part of our plan in life (even when it is a horrible situation).  Huge for you, and I will be praying that your little one will be just fine.