How dangerous is Pericardial cyst? Can it be life-threatening?

Hey dear. You are never too old to worry about your health, remember that. Pericardial cyst is an uncommon congenital abnormality. It can occur in the middle mediastinum. The diagnosis is incidental to those cases with complaints such as pain or heaviness in breath. There is a treatment for this. When it is not timely diagnosed or if this cyst is left untreated it can cause serious complications. It has been reported that those cysts can cause right main stem bronchus obstruction, pulmonary artery stenosis, even the sepsis and atrial fibrillation. Once again, if you don’t treat it, it can be fatal.

Hello you two,

Pericardial cysts occur rarely with an incidence rate of 1 per 100,000. They are usually detected by chance and are clinically silent in most cases. In most cases, you don't have anything to worry about, but sometimes, rarely, you do.

The management of pericardial cysts includes observation, percutaneous drainage, and resection. Observation is possible with repeated CT scans. However, there is little information regarding the safety and appropriate length of observation. For high-risk patients, a non-operative strategy may be followed. The longest reported follow-up lasted twenty five years, and yielded a 2.5L cyst at the time of resection . Aspiration is another therapeutic option.

Hello lady,

It's not funny, it's in human nature, in every living being's nature to look after its own health.

The thing is that these pericardial cysts are almost always discovered accidentally which means that these can't be that dangerous. There are only a few reported cases where these caused death and this was found out only after these deaths occurred.

Since you found this out on time, you shouldn't have any problems with it. When you go back to see your doctor, he is going to check everything out and tell you about your treatment options. Since he told you to come in one week, you have nothing to worry about.

Hi everyone,

I believe that Alan is right here, Insidious, you found this out on time so there is no need for you to worry about your grandsons losing their grandma. 

Since your doctor told you to come again in a week of time to do additional tests, this means that your condition is not at all serious, I believe that if it was any serious, he would have sent you to do these tests immediately.

So my answer to your question, my opinion would be that this condition is not a life threatening thing, at least not in your case. I wish you best of luck.

Hey there.

I understand that you are worried and you should be. I would like to tell you to try not to worry so much because it can cause stress for you, and you don’t want to get through the stress right. The good thing is that this disease is not that dangerous so basically you really don’t need to be worried that much. Amazing news is that this cyst can be controlled with a good therapy and you can have long and quality life.

But it is not life – threatening. You need to learn how to live with it with good therapy.

I wish you all the best.

Hello. First I need to tell you that I admire you and I really admire that you have so strong will to live. I am sure that you are going to be OK, despite this diagnose that it is not that safe. It is not that dangerous, just to make things clear but it is not something that you should play with. You need to follow instructions and therapy that your doctor prescribed to you if you want to have normal life. I know that normal life is not a life with a bunch of pills, but sometimes that is our only option.

Like someone already told you, fortunately it is not a life – threatening.

Hello,
My husband had a kidney infection, but at the same time they were doing the cat scan for the kidney they found an incidental (a cyst located on the membrane of the heart) at this point the dr says there is nothing to worry about. Dr states no concerns for surgery, drainage and it is benign. My husband is only 46 years old. Dr. still wants to do a stress test, but other than that Dr does not believe there is immediate danger. Hope this helps.

I was 50 when my pericardial cyst was discovered. I had spent years having my ribs adjusted (no doctor could diagnose my pain other than my ribs shifting) Feb of 2021 I could bare the pain, I seen three physicians that week and my chiropractor. I ended up in the er where an X-ray was taken and sent to the University of Minnesota. They saw what they called “a shadow”. That was a Saturday. Once they had a bed for me (this was during Covid) they admitted and it wasn’t until five days later than finally went in and removed it. Up until that time the nurses, doctors and staff thought I was not being honest about the amount of pain I was in. It was determined mine had been growing since I was in my mother womb. I had never received X-rays for anything on history of life until that week. I wish I had pushed earlier on versus being told nothing was wrong.

I was 50 when my pericardial cyst was discovered. I had spent years having my ribs adjusted (no doctor could diagnose my pain other than my ribs shifting) Feb of 2021 I could bare the pain, I seen three physicians that week and my chiropractor. I ended up in the er where an X-ray was taken and sent to the University of Minnesota. They saw what they called “a shadow”. That was a Saturday. Once they had a bed for me (this was during Covid) they admitted and it wasn’t until five days later than finally went in and removed it. Up until that time the nurses, doctors and staff thought I was not being honest about the amount of pain I was in. It was determined mine had been growing since I was in my mother womb. I had never received X-rays for anything on history of life until that week. I wish I had pushed earlier on versus being told nothing was wrong.

I was 50 when my pericardial cyst was discovered. I had spent years having my ribs adjusted (no doctor could diagnose my pain other than my ribs shifting) Feb of 2021 I could bare the pain, I seen three physicians that week and my chiropractor. I ended up in the er where an X-ray was taken and sent to the University of Minnesota. They saw what they called “a shadow”. That was a Saturday. Once they had a bed for me (this was during Covid) they admitted and it wasn’t until five days later than finally went in and removed it. Up until that time the nurses, doctors and staff thought I was not being honest about the amount of pain I was in. It was determined mine had been growing since I was in my mother womb. I had never received X-rays for anything on history of life until that week. I wish I had pushed earlier on versus being told nothing was wrong.