What is a cyst in general? And why is there so much talk about her? This neoplasm can suddenly show up in any organ or tissue. Usually this is not a big deal, as it is not cancer, but just a capsule. But the cyst found in the brain is a serious diagnosis. After all, the brain cavity is limited, there is enough space in the skull only for the necessary structures - brain cells, arachnoid membrane and cerebrospinal fluid (cerebrospinal fluid).
A cyst differs from cancer in that it appears as a result of abnormal physiological processes or problems with hormones. But cancer is already more serious formations that grow uncontrollably and by completely different principles.
Cyst of the brain. Sizes. The risks
According to the medical dictionary - a cyst is a benign mass, a cavity filled with fluid. And there are pseudo-cysts - they differ in the absence of their own shell and legs.
Education is usually not detected for a long time until it grows so much that it presses the adjacent areas of the brain. While the cyst is small, a person does not feel it.
The sizes of the cyst are different. It can be only a few millimeters in diameter, or it can grow up to several centimeters. Small bags of liquid are observed by a specialist. Surgeons do not touch them, because brain surgery is too dangerous. To touch such a finely organized substance as the brain means to expose the patient's life and health to excessive risk. Therefore, doctors do not assume such responsibility.
Causes of Cysts
The cause of the appearance of a brain cyst should be identified by the doctor after a detailed survey of the patient to compile a medical history, and after receiving the examination data.
In most cases, a cyst is formed in the case of:
- getting a brain injury;
- infectious disease;
- a hemorrhagic stroke;
- disturbances of cerebrospinal fluid circulation;
- high blood pressure;
- in children, the cause may be those infections that a woman was sick during the gestation period. Such infections include herpetic, toxoplasmosis and rubella.
This bubble in the brain does not occur from scratch. Of great importance is cerebrospinal fluid circulation. That is, constant updating of intracranial special fluid. If there are abnormal processes in the brain, and the cerebrospinal fluid pressure begins to exceed normal cranial pressure, then the fluid has nowhere else to go in the brain. And she forms a cyst.
Autoimmune processes are another cause of a brain cyst, which has been little studied but also takes place. That is, the aggression of white blood cells against the body's own cells.
Brain MRI gives a very accurate picture. Any vascular formations, arachnoid cysts of the brain with a size of 3 mm or more - the doctor will immediately see all these abnormalities. But the reason may remain unknown, especially if a person turned to the doctor only when he was already exhausted by headaches and various attacks, lasting several years.
Cyst of the brain. Symptoms
Like any disease, cystic formations are identified by a number of symptoms that the doctor compares with the analysis data. A person himself can analyze his condition and suspect a problem by a number of signs. But the diagnosis is nevertheless made exclusively by a neurologist.
Symptoms that detect the presence of a cyst include:
- frequent severe cephalalgia (headaches);
- periodic cramps of limbs;
- noise in the head;
- sleep disturbances;
- vomiting
- coordination problems;
- temporary visual dysfunctions are also possible.
When the bubble with the fluid grows, a person begins to have serious bouts of epilepsy, in the morning the patient often finds traces of blood from the nose. Sometimes there are hallucinations and thinking disorders. From headaches and exhaustion, a person simply loses consciousness.
In such cases, you should immediately contact the center of MRI diagnostics and go to the doctor with the scan data.
Consequences and health hazards
As we said, small cysts do not lead to any adverse outcomes. But those formations that grow uncontrollably due to abnormalities in the brain will soon appear and carry a threat.
What harm does a brain cyst do? The consequences for such patients are difficult to predict. This in many cases is hydrocephalus, compression of the brain, paresis, circulatory disorders. Often there are problems with sleep and the psyche. If this is a child who is only developing, he will have some difficulties, and possibly defects in development.
Types of Cysts
There are 2 main types of education. The first type is a cyst in the deep layers of the brain, directly in the gray matter or in the ventricles - retrocerebellar. The second type is arachnoid, which is located above the gray matter in the arachnoid. Since the arachnoid does not affect the vital parts of the brain, it is not so dangerous.
Another neoplasm is known - the cystic vascular plexus of the brain. They are more characteristic of newly born children. But they are not dangerous.
Porencephalic cyst - formed as a result of atherosclerotic changes and appears already at the age of 55-65 years. Acquired and congenital cysts are also shared in the clinic. The sizes of the brain cyst in children and adolescents are determined using MRI.
Arachnoid cyst
Arachnoid cyst of the brain is found for unknown reasons in men more often than in women. In her capsule is always cerebrospinal fluid. Cerebral arachnoid cyst leads to various disturbances in the functioning of our main controller - the brain.
Basically, education overtakes one who has had one of the following infections affecting the central nervous system:
- meningitis;
- cytomegalovirus;
- arachnoiditis;
- chickenpox with complications.
There may be problems with vision or hearing. A person suddenly has nervous breakdowns, fears. The patient is concerned about numbness or cramps of the limbs.
There are several varieties of such a cyst:
- convexital cyst;
- basilar;
- cyst of the posterior cranial fossa.
According to statistics, the last named cyst is most common. Neuralgia or paralysis of the facial nerve, and severe pain in the nape of the neck are attributed to its invariable signs. Sometimes the patient can see hallucinations. And this should alert.
A spinal arachnoid cyst is one that is localized in the spinal cord. And there is such a subspecies as optochiasmal arachnoid cyst. With it, the visual region gradually narrows and the person as a result completely loses sight.
Cyst in newborns
Education is possible already at the stage of intrauterine development due to various pathogenic factors that attack the mother's body. It is important to take tests in time to know in advance about the problem. Sometimes such formations themselves dissolve in the fetus. This should happen by 20-30 weeks. It happens that education itself goes away a few months after birth. But all this time the child is important to keep under observation. In general, a lot of babies are born with a cyst, but this should not cause the mother to panic.
A brain cyst in a child often has a favorable prognosis. If the cyst is dermoid, that is, congenital, and is located in the deep layers of the brain (near the ventricles, in the body of the pineal gland or pituitary gland), and the child suffers from many attacks, then surgery is inevitable.
To diagnose such a formation in a baby, a conventional ultrasound is performed. It is absolutely painless and effective. But you need to lie on an MRI without moving, which is difficult to achieve from an infant.
You can treat a child only with those drugs that are indicated by a doctor. Do not allow amateur performances and the use of all kinds of folk methods.
Retrocerebellar education. Features
The location and size of the retrocerebellar cyst of the brain is important. It is also necessary to begin treatment as early as possible. In addition to the inflammatory process due to infection, the cause of this cyst can be a stroke or a surgery already performed on the brain, which subsequently gave complications. Such cavities, if they rapidly develop and fill with liquid, need to be shunted. However, when the cysts are located very close to the ventricles of the brain themselves, they are still not affected.
Retrocerebellar cyst of the brain is quite rare. Due to the fact that pathological processes continue to develop and brain cells die, the headaches in a person are very severe.
Such a patient is forbidden to be nervous, go outside in extreme heat and walk for a long time. Doctors also do not allow sitting for a long time near electronic gadgets, at the TV. You can’t strain, and in general the patient’s life becomes unbearable. But the risk of mortality with a growing retrocerebellar deep cyst is great, so these restrictions are justified.
In such cases, the only way to deal with the problem is to remove the brain cyst.
It is better immediately when a headache occurs, which neither analgesics nor rest can relieve, come to a doctor's consultation and find out the causes of such symptoms.
Cysts of other parts of the brain
There are many departments in the brain, and a cyst can form in any of them. According to symptoms, an experienced doctor often predicts where exactly it is located. For example, a cerebellar cyst makes itself felt in violation of coordination of movements. It becomes difficult for a person to walk due to the fact that he often loses his sense of balance. It is usually not hazardous to health. But headaches and balance problems clearly interfere with the patient.
Drowsiness and decreased visual acuity are inherent in the pineal gland cyst - the gland that is responsible for the production of sleep hormone. It is formed when, when the passage of the gland is blocked, the produced hormone melatonin cannot exit. Then a pouch appears, filled with this hormone, which gradually grows.
The pineal cyst of the brain or pineal gland is very rare. And while it is small, the patient will not feel any manifestations for years. But having reached a large size, the cyst interferes with the work of the gland and disrupts the brain due to the same increased cranial pressure. Of course, a lack of melatonin will lead to mood swings, depression, or some other mental disturbance.
According to these signs, one can suspect that the cause of the condition is precisely in the area of the pineal gland. So, there is either a tumor or a cyst of the pineal gland of the brain.
Separately considered cystic vascular plexus in medicine. This species is found mainly in newborns. The child acquires an education in the brain either during childbirth, when the help to the woman in labor is unskilled, or due to infections.
As you can see, brain cysts are very diverse. Symptoms usually indicate to the doctor her exact location.
Can a cyst degenerate into a malignant formation?
Usually cysts are not dangerous. Therefore, in medicine they are called benign formations. As we found out, they arise for a number of reasons. Most often this is an infection that affects the brain tissue.
Encephalitis and arachnoiditis in our time are perfectly treated with injections and medicines. Having learned about the disease, you need to immediately go to the clinic. As long as inflammation continues, and the patient does not take any steps to diagnose and treat, the formation will gradually grow.
But she cannot degenerate into cancer. Only in exceptional cases, when the brain tissue is already too affected by concomitant disorders and it is impossible to stop the destruction, such deplorable consequences occur. Statistics say that only 0.01% of cystic formations nevertheless degenerate into malignant.
But if you take radical measures and start treatment, the growth of education stops. When the cause was clearly an injury, for example, after an accident, then perhaps the cyst will not grow.
Diagnostics
If it is suspected of a benign neoplasm, it is important to undergo a whole range of studies. All procedures are needed to understand if there is a real danger of the appearance of new cysts. What would you recommend going through?
- Mandatory consultation with a cardiologist. It is necessary to understand whether or not heart defects exist.
- Identify disorders in the vessels. An angiography is performed.
- Pressure monitoring is carried out.
- A blood test that answers the question of whether there is an autoimmune disease that can trigger abnormalities in the brain.
- Blood cholesterol test.
The whole range of studies will allow us to judge the general forecast for the future. Perhaps the situation is quite acceptable and the treatment will not be delayed.
The specialist needs to make sure that the pain is really due to a cyst, and not a tumor or pseudotumor. To do this, you need to do an MRI scan. This is the first procedure when it comes to neurological diseases and cephalalgia.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an absolutely safe procedure. The device receives radiation from the brain. And where the tissues have a higher density, there will be darker areas in the picture. This is education. MRI of the brain (a cyst is still dangerous for children) is done for both very small people and allergy sufferers who cannot tolerate the administration of contrast agents.
Quality treatment
How does cyst treatment begin? Of course, you need to determine the cause. If it lies in autoimmune processes, then perhaps this will happen again. Antibiotics will cope with the treatment of a formation caused by viruses or purulent infection that has penetrated the brain due to inflammation of the middle ear, which must be prescribed by a doctor.
Circulatory and cardiac disorders are treated with special drugs and diet. Be sure to need pills to help restore normal blood pressure. In many older people, blood thickens and therefore blood clots are possible. Proper nutrition is designed to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood and normalize blood density. Sometimes it helps to restore blood circulation in the brain, but if not, you have to resort to surgery.
Some types of formations need to be operated a priori, for example, a retrocerebellar cyst of the brain. But you can only remove it if there are no contraindications to the operation.
conclusions
So, we found out all about the brain cyst. What is dangerous and what are the symptoms of its development - all this information is important to someone who heard the word "cyst" in the diagnosis. However, in most cases, the situation is going well and surgery is indicated only in cases of uncontrolled and constant growth.
For timely detection of cysts, an MRI of the brain is done. The cyst has not yet grown and has not caused significant harm to the tissues, can stop its growth when adequate treatment is prescribed.