The consequences of choroid plexus cyst

At my 18 week ultrasound, we were told that our little guy had bilateral CPCs. I was a little scared (okay- more than a little)...but after a day of processing, I am feeling much better. Everything else looks great. If a baby has trisomy 18, the head is usually small...there are other signs. I've taken care of babies with trisomy 18 as a NICU RN. I am not having an amnio. It would not change my course of action. There are MANY misdiagnoses made on ultrasounds and CPCs 99/100 times mean nothing at all. Relax and take it easy. We should learn to love our children unconditionally...even before they are born. :-)

I am 35 and pregnant with my first. I just had the 20 week U/S this morning and the doctor found a small choroid plexus cyst on one side of the baby's brain. At first, you think how can that not be a big deal? But my doctor said if it was his child (and he has 4) he would be more worried about tripping on his way out the door or about what to have for lunch today. He said it is one of those things that he wished he did not even have to bring my attention to it. That said, I have also already undergone genetic testing (I had a CVS in May), and the results were normal. From everything I have read online, a CPC can be a soft marker for Trisomy 18. The way I read the research, baby's with Trisomy 18 often have this marker, but just because a CPC is found certainly doesn't mean that your baby will have Trisomy 18. Also, if everything else on the ultrasound checks out, that is a good sign. My feeling is that if you are going to worry the rest of the pregnancy then maybe it is worth getting an amino. My CVS was trans-abdominal, and it really wasn't a big deal. The pain was minimal, and I had no spotting or cramping afterwards. With all of the information out there, just trying to keep peace of mind can be the hardest thing of all - good luck!

I had my ultrasound done at 20 weeks and they just called me a few days ago to tell me they saw a cyst on my babys brain. The first thing the Dr told me was not to worry and the baby is perfectly halthy so far. They say these cysys usually go away in the third trimester and even if they DIDNT....the baby is still perfectly healthy and it doesnt affect their learning at all. ONLY if your baby has other abnormalities they find in the ultrasound....(heart not growing properly, clentched fists, weight decrease, problems with the kidneys, etc)... Then no need to worry if your baby would have that other disease that causes mental retardation. (trisomy 18). OF course I still am very scared and I wont feel 100% okay until she is born. However, the Dr gave me a 99 % chance that she is alright and I should not be concerned since there was nothing else abnormal. I also had the testing done for Downs Syndrome at 14 weeks and that came back ok...So I try to be positive that my baby is ok...

Hi, I just wanted to say that reading these posts have been soooooo helpful. I'm feeling so much better, and am optimistic that my baby will - God Willing - be ok.
I went to my 20 week ultrasound last week and got a call yesterday about the results showing CPS. I totally freaked out! I'm scheduled for a follow up ultrasound II tomorrow. When I called to schedule the ultrasound, the lady asked me whether or not I wanted an amnio. Again, I freaked out, thinking, why are they offering this to me without even checking out results from my ultrasound II. I think the whole thing is overrated, and whether or not there is a related genetic problem, the way of informing the CPS are nerve wrecking. The facts should be stated clearly before making it seem like there is a huge problem. Once confirmed it's another story, but the lady on the phone was very blunt with me, and I couldn't stop worrying until reading up more on the topic and of course the posts. The second post however needs to go! You are scarring us women!

to kwater76

It's interesting that you bring up ADHD. My daughter (born 1992) had bilateral CPCs, Amnio turned out fine. She was diagnosed with ADHD when she was 7 - primarily inattentive, hypersensitive, disorganized. She's lefthanded, and her processing speed is average. BUT, her cognitive skills are in the high superior range, and she is musically gifted(she's been tested because of the ADHD). She's got perfect pitch, plays violin, and has vocal control far beyond what's always been expected for her age. I've always wondered if there was a connection, which is why I do a search on this every so often. To the mom's out there waiting: Hang in there. The waiting's awful, but statistics show it'll be okay.

I had my 18 week ultrasound and we found out that we are having a little girl!! I went to the doctors a week later for my monthly check up and she told me about finding a CPC. My heart sank. I am a healthy 23 year old woman and the last thing I was ready to hear was that my baby was deloving different than most others. The doctor went on to say everything else on the u/s was normal and our baby was growing right on schedule, and that I should not worry about this at all, as most of them go away by the 28th week anyways. Why do they even tell us this?? Just another worry to add to the 100 others. I have a follow up u/s in 2 weeks and I swear this is going to be the longest 2 weeks of my life, how do you tell a mother to be not to worry about something like this???? I feel for all woman that have to go through this, added stress that isnt good for us anyways. I know my baby is healthy and this is just a "finding" that means nothing, but it is going to be hard to sleep at nigt! Good luck to all of you, ur babies will be born healthy and happy.

I am in the same boat as every one else. I got the results today. My thoughts are that what will happen is going to happen. I will love this baby as much as when he is born as I do right now. My hopes are that he is a very healthy boy but I can't change what God has decided to give to me. I found that the more I read the more confused I got. I hate that I know anything b/c for me it doesn't matter. I would never terminate a baby. Best of luck to all of you ladies!

I am from China. Thanks a lot I chose English as my major. I feel much better after reading these messages. Two days ago, I was told my baby had CPC on its left head. The doctor let me go to city's biggest hospital to do further check up. She didn't say too much info. just said : it might be dissapeared. but to keep it or not need to hear the professional expert 's advice. - her voice/tone were so cold. My whole family members were scared. I couldn't find useful info. on the chinese websites and began to search on the English websites and learn a lot here. After reading massive messages, Waitting in clam is the best choice for us. After 25 days, I will have another Ultrasound. I absolutely believe everything is going to be okay.

Thanks to everybody show posted on this thread. I just had my 20 week ultrasound today and told me the baby has a small CPC. I am worried, of course, but feel much better after reading this thread. I will ask for a level 2 ultrasound.. I hope things will be ok.

I have a six month old son now, but when I was 18 weeks pregnant, my son was diagnosed with 3 choroid plexus cysts on his brain. I got the news a few days after my ultrasound, I was devastated. Here I am thinking I am doing everything right: eating good, taking prenatal vitamins, and reading lots about pregnancy; and I get this news that something is wrong. Within days I had an appointment at the University of Chicago Hospital to see the head of fetal medicine. My husband and I went to the appointment where they confirmed the cysts were present using a 4D ultrasound. The physician gave me a choice of going home and waiting (because they usually resolve by 28 weeks gestation) or doing an amnio. After carefully weighing the odds, my husband and I decided just to go home and wait and keep doing everything we were doing to care for the baby. My maternal screen was normal and the ultrasound at U of C was normal (except for the cysts). I had ultrasounds about every month up until 29 weeks. At 29 weeks, we went back for a 4D ultrasound to see if the cysts had resolved. It was at this ultrasound it was confirmed the cysts had resolved and we were having a healthy baby. At 39 weeks, I delivered our son by C-section and the best part of that day was the neonatologist telling us "Congratulations, you have a healthy baby boy!!) I always said to my husband that if everything was ok with our son that I was going to write to other moms and dads who just got this news and tell then to hang in there (no matter how hard it might be ) because chances are everything will be ok. I worried myself sick for 11 weeks of my pregnancy about the cysts, and all along it was just a part of his development. Our son is completely healthy and active and doing everything he is supposed to when he is supposed to (cooing, rolling over, crawling, etc). My pediatrician did not even want to discuss the subject, he said the subject was over because the cysts had resolved. My son is so happy and my husband and I feel very blessed. I hope this helps all the worried parents out there. Feel free to ask more questions, I am very open to talking about this because it helps to talk to other parents in the same boat.

Just a quick reply. My daughter, now 12 1/2, had a CPC that was the size of one hemisphere of her brain. She did not appear to have any other visual problems on the ultrasounds. The CPC was very obvious even to us. My Doctor pulled out one of her textbooks and showed us pictures of a baby terribly handicapped and told us this was a possibility for us and to think about what we were going to do. Of course, we said we couldn't wait to hold our precious child. End of that conversation. We went every two weeks for an ultrasound until our baby was born. I have so may pictures of her developing that we were spoiled slightly seeing through such an intimate window into her world. I decided to post a reply to follow up on several other posts that have a similar conclusion. My daughter has also been tested and considered gifted. She has a photographic memory, perfect pitch, very witty, and extemely loving. She wants to be a Vet. For several years in the beginning of her life we kept waiting for the other shoe to fall as it were. Thinking that some problem would manifest itself, watching carefully. In Kindergarten she could read chapter books and and her math skills were 2nd grade level. Her first grade teacher called us one day and said my daughter had been complaining about her hearing. We thought this must be it. I took her to a Doctor and had her hearing tested. They wanted to know why I brought her. Her hearing was off of the charts in the high and low tones. She was complaining because her hearing was so acute she could hear everything. We discovered at that time that she has perfect pitch. Her ability to sing on key and pick out the names of the notes of anything musical, any tone, is quite astounding. When she was four she kept tripping over her own feet, so of course we took her to a pediatric orthopedist. He indicated that she has hyper rotation in her hips and well the only problem he could find in that was she was going to be extemely fast. We were stunned. He told us most Olympic runners have the same quality and the only problem we were going to have was to try to catch her if she really took off. He was right. Her vision is above average, her hearing is above average, her sense of humor is very sophistocated and she is a kind person. Her CPC disappeared in my 7 1/2 month of pregancy. She had been measured in the ultrasound so many times they told us that she would be about 8 pounds and to prepare (I am very petite). She was 6 lbs. 2 oz. when she was born full term. They did so many tests on her, ultrasounds to see if her kidneys were formed and if her heart was normal and if she had all of her organs. A perfect little package.



I too think it would be beneficial to follow up with the children who were diagnosed with a CPC, that disappeared during pregancy, if there were things, good or bad, that manifested later. And if they have children will they have CPCs or pass on a trisomy problem. These are now my concerns. When the time is right we will tell her. Everyday I think about that we were offered to end her life. She just may be the one who finds the cure for cancer.



Good luck. Your babies will be special no matter the outcome. Hold them close, love and kiss them, everyday is precious.

In response to "guest" posted 09/11/08 --

My son too had choroid plexus cysts which disappeared on their own around week 28. He is currently 2 years old, and so far he is developing faster than average on all fronts. He also has a strong immune system, had a fever twice for a few hours only, and has never taken antibiotics as of yet. Not sure if this is a coincidence. I thought I would mention it.

Thanks!

just a thought... have you had a lot of ultra sounds? i've had a lot of ultra sounds and i worried that this might have cause the unilateral choroid plexus cyst. please reply if you have. thanks

Hi, I am the "Guest" that originally posted the "Flashback" message about my son. I had lost this link until now, so thank you to those who responded.

In commenting to some of the responses, my son, J, with the resolved cysts has suspected that he has some form of ADHD, but I believe that he is just a procrastinator as I find that he does not fall into any of the classifications. I have a younger son who does, so I have researched this quite a bit.

My son, J, is now about 13 1/2. He is in 8th grade, took algebra last year, but has a geometry class that he takes at the high school, after which he is brought back to his junior high school by bus with one other girl. His math classes have been harder than his 15-year-old brother's math classes. J was elected president of the Junior Honor Society last week. He is not into sports as someone else had mentioned their child was, but he has just recently been playing some simple football games between friends. He had been taking violin but had to drop it to take the advanced class at the high school. He also took the regular SAT in January of this year and got 1500, which I think is about average for the regular people who take the test.

He is still quite healthy but has succumbed to either a cold or possible allergies this last week. It is always kind of surprising when he is a little off!

Anyway, now that I know where this site is I can check back here much more frequently and wish all the expectant mothers here the very best!

My daughter had a choroid plexus cyst diagnosed by ultrasound at 19 weeks. I was so freaked out that I had an amnio to find out if she had Trisomy 18. I regret having the amnio because it was unnecessary since I would have had her delivered regardless. Nevertheless, the genetic tests came back fine and nothing more was done. I have no idea if the cysts are still there. Flash forward to now. She is 20 months old. She appears to me to be highly intelligent. She is also musically gifted. She hums songs that we sing to her and is pitch perfect. However, she is developmentally delayed - she has not yet developed language skills. She has a couple of recognisable words but that is all. I'm inclined to believe that every child develops at their own rate and that the words will come when she is ready. However, I have had her assessed through early intervention and the developmental therapist suggested "sensory processing disorder". This is something that needs further screening but the good news is that it can be helped without medication and with occupational therapy. I read that often children with a sensory processing disorder (SPD) are misdiagnosed as ADHD. ADHD medication will not help a child with SPD as far as I have read so for moms with this diagnosis it might be worthwhile getting a second opinion.

I wish there was more information to track children with CPC.