The consequences of choroid plexus cyst

In the fall of 2001, I was 26 and 18 weeks pregnant with my first child when I had the level 2 sonogram done. During the procedure, the radiologist discovered bilateral choroid plexus cysts on my baby's brain and a "calcification" on the stomach. He discussed Trisomy 18 and abortion with me and my husband and absolutely horrified us. A week and a half later we went to the most respected medical center in our area for a second opinion, where we learned that the cysts had completely resolved on their own and the "calcification" was simply part of the stomach lining. For peace of mind I decided to do an amnio anyway and ten days later found out that, genetically speaking, my baby was fine. Today, he's a bright, lively and fun-loving four-year-old whose teachers and school directors have encouraged us to have him tested for being gifted. Reflecting on both my unnecessarily stress-filled pregnancies (had another healthy baby two years after my son was born), I think we women are simply given too many tests and too much information during our pregnancies. I'm not sure I'll be taking every single test (ie, AFP, triple screen, nuchal translucency, amnio, etc.) if there's a next time around. To all you moms-to-be who are receiving questionable results of one or more of these tests, stay strong and keep looking forward--the rate of false positives and innaccurate results is staggering.

I'm 19 weeks pregnant and they told me my baby has these cysts. I'm scared to death. The baby has no other abnormalities. I'm only 29 years old. This is my second child, i have a perfectly healthy baby girl at home. Help??? I'm scared???

The statements that choroid plexus cysts (CPCs) are caused by genetic abnormalities, that they usually result in a baby with Trisomy 18, and that even if a baby is born with no apparent consequences from the cyst they still carry genetic abnormalities are all untrue. I'm a 33-year-old mother of two and am 19 weeks pregnant. My routine ultrasound has revealed a single CPC in my baby's brain and I've been doing a lot of research on the subject. CPCs are found in approximately 1% of fetuses during routine ultrasounds and are thought to be a natural phenomenon in brain development. If the baby exhibits no other signs of genetic abnormality in the ultrasound (clenched fists, malformed organs, etc.), it is likely that the CPC is what they call "isolated" and is unrelated to any other condition. The most prevalent genetic disorder that seems to be associate with CPCs is Trisomy 18, that is true, but most babies with CPCs do not have this disorder. There are a few options for mothers who's babies have CPCs: have a Level II ultrasound performed by someone experienced in diagnosing genetic disorders (which still may miss other markers of genetic disorders), have amniocentsis (which itself carries a .5 to 1% risk of miscarriage) or do nothing and wait. Babies with Trisomy 18 rarely live past age 1 and many are stillborn, but there are ways to determine how great the risk of Trisomy 18 is to your child. Discuss with a doctor your risk factors for Trisomy 18 (maternal age, results of any Triple Screen blood test) and decide. Some say that if you have another ultrasound after 25 weeks and the cyst has resolved itself, then there is no further risk of Trisomy 18, but others say that babies with and without the condition can have their cysts disappear. The bottom line is that if your baby has CPCs, there may be a slight increase in the odds that he or she has a genetic disorder like Trisomy 18, but the vast majority of babies with CPCs and no other indicators of genetic anomalies are born perfectly healthy. Of course it is reason for concern, but do not let the uninformed frighten you into thinking that your baby definitely has some disorder or that there is nothing you can do to get a better grasp on the odds that this is the case. Good luck to us all.

Hi, I am 20 weeks pregnant with my second child. I have a little girl and this is a little boy. I was so excited to find out and then the doctor came in and told me the baby had bilateral cysts on the brain. He said that my AFP did not show an increased risk for my age and that there didn't seem to be any other abnormalities on the u/s however was recommending a genetic u/s. His exact words were "Consider your glass half full." Well I can tell you that made me feel sick. I am scared to death and have done all of the research (i don't think there is a site I haven't read) and still I feel useless. My next u/s is in a week and I feel like I should be doing something... like someone should be dping something! I don't understand how medical professionals can just give this informqation to you and then say oh yeah wait a week or two to find anything else out. I was also told that I should consider an amnio at the time of the u/s so that there is still time to get the results and terminate the pregnany if I wanted. I can't even think. Two days ago I was planning on decorating for a little boy and now they want me thinking about terminating. I am hoping and praying for all of us that all of the statistics in our favor prove that these really are nothing but cysts. Good luck to all

hi im in the same shoes.

i am only 19 years old and i have a perfectly healthy baby girl at home and was told a few weeks ago that my baby has cpc's.

im really scared of the outcome.

How common is it for a 19 year old to have a baby with problems?

Flashback to 1994. The pediatrician called up and said to come down to his office right away, he needed to speak with me immediately about my pregnancy. These cysts, this sort of "fetal condition," was a fairly new thing being spotted on the ultrasounds back then and was extremely scary. The doctor had a similar attitude to one mentioned here previously; you know, your glass is half empty. Well, I cried off and on for a month, waiting to see if there would be a "disappearance" of the two fairly large cysts. I was told they had resolved themselves, but I couldn't help but wonder why only 1 in 100 fetuses seemed to have this going on. I also wondered if they really would completely resolve, disappear, have no effect, whatever. I did go ahead with the genetic counseling and the amnio before the cysts "disappeared," only because I was over 35 and extremely scared, as there was little info out about this back then.

Well, now back to the present, 1/2007. My boy is 11 1/2 years old now. He walked at 7 or 8 months old. He never went to kindergarten but I was told by his school that they had never seen a child more ready for the first grade back then. He is now in the 6th grade and taking 8th grade pre-algebra. He is classified as "gifted," and last year he won seven or eight awards at school. He rarely gets sick, and when he does it is viral not bacterial.

I am curious as to whether or not others have had this same type of outcome as far as an elevated intelligence level and/or a better than average immunity system?? Coincidence?

In any case, I hope my experience, though not scientific proof of anything, may give some of you a little extra reassurance or perhaps a sigh of optimistic relief...

Hi, I am 38 yrs old, pregnant with my first child. I chose to do all the integrated prenatal tests and had great results. 1/20,000 downs, 1/4500 spina bifida and negative for trisomy 18. I went for my 18 week ultra sound and was horrified when I was told by the radiologist my child has a choroid plexus cyst in her brain. My husband and I went home and did lots of research and I consulted with my OB and genetic councillor. Some information I have read on this from others is incorrect and I advise people to consult with their OB and genetic councillors. CPC usually go away before the child is born but the soft marker for trisomy 18 is still real. If it's an isolated CPC and you had negative blood work the odds are based on your maternal age, the blood work and if there were other abnormaties/markers on your ultra sound. In my case the odds for having a child with trisomy 18 at 38 are 1/1900. Based on my findings the risk increases to 1/750. I have an amnio booked but my genetic councillor said I am still not in a high risk group. My OB said that if this is going to worry for the next half of my pregnancy I should get an amnio to ease my mind but I am worried about the higher risk of the amnio. I feel for anyone that has to go through this but make sure you get all the information. Most isolated CPC cases produce healthy happy babies. Even if the CPC does not resolve itself it causes no harm to a person or their intelligence. I am only hoping that my baby is healthy and free on any genetic problems.

I'm 26 years old and 19 weeks along. At my 17 week ultrasound they found a CPC. At first I freaked out, but after doing some investigating and reading helpful bulletins such as this, I have relaxed. It seems to me that if I never would have had that ultrasound, I never would have been worried at all. Technology is wonderful, but there are downsides to being totally informed and aware of everything. Pregnancy is a completely natural occurence and I'm beginning to wish I could keep the mystery involved with it. Instead I am able to read anything and everything to do with pregnancy, labor, birth defects, you name it! Not to mention all of the different types of testing options, different versions of ultrasounds, and methods used to listen in and peer in at our little miracle taking place. Women have been giving birth for quite some time, and most of them did it without seeing their baby before the birth day. Although I'm glad to have the technology here for me if something goes wrong, I can't help but wish this whole process could be a bit more like it used to be. Anyway, that being said, I'm still going for my follow up ultrasound next week just to make sure. After that I'll probably have to go back again and they'll probably offer tests. I wish I didn't even know about the darn CPC, but since I do, I feel like I have to at least check in with the baby with an in depth ultrasound. I'm so torn about the whole thing. All I know is that my baby is fine. 100% perfectly healthy, just like mom and dad. There is no reason for me to think otherwise even with the spotting of the cyst. I wish all moms who find CPCs peace of mind. I wish you healthy babies and deep sleep at night. Happy pregnancies to all!

I just wanted to add a similar message to many of the more recent postings- I found that a lot of the information posted by people at the begining of this website was false and made the CPCs sound a lot more frightening then they really are. We were just told that we have a CPC, and our doctor was so great. He said for us not to worry- I am 30, I tested 1/10,000 for downs and trisomy 18 and I have no other defects (heart, clenched fists, kidneys,etc.). I was so scared at first as well- you never want to hear that there is any possibility of anything wrong with your baby, but after doing TONS of research and having such a positive experience with my doctor, I am not worried. Try not to freak out too much!!! :-)

My wife and I are 4 mos. pregnant. An ultrasound revealed that our unborn son has (unilateral) choroid plexus cysts (2) in his brain. However, there are no other signs (as of yet) of abnormalities in the heart or other organs. My wife and I are extremely worried as we were told that these types of cysts linked with abnormally developed organs can be an indicator of Downs syndrome or Edwards Syndrome. We were given an option to have an amnio done are going to go through with it. Our amnio is not scheduled until next week. This is going to be a rough week as we are terrified of the worse. Anyone out there have any advice or any expereience similar that they would like to share?

I'm apparently the youngest and definitly the most inexperienced out of all these women. I'm 21 years old I'm 20 weeks pregnant with my first baby! I have known 2 other people my age that had NO problems during pregnancy, however i obviously seem to be the one with the worst luck. My 18 week ultrasound showed that my baby girl has a bilateral CPC. My husband and I are in the military and their tactics for telling us any info or reassurance is for lack of a better word crappy. I have researched many things online about CPC's and so far what i've come to the conclusion is that it's a marker for genetic abnormalities and that the risks are much greater obviously depending on age and any history of genetic problems within the family. Well both my husband and i have no history of any genetic problems and i am still young so the risks supposedly are much less and i'm being told that it will "resolve on it's own." I'm freaked out this being my first pregnancy and all. Everything was going so well and now i get told my baby has a CPC and that my Physican assistant (which is all the military will offer me) says there's nothing they or i can do. I'm going to schedule a level II Ultrasound tomorrow as well as a genetic counseling meeting, but from what i've gathered if it shows no abnormalities it is just an isolated CPC. And that it Should go away. BUT WHAT IF IT DOESN'T and there AREN'T any abnormalities my little girl is just gonna go around life with CPC's on her brain??? I cant ever actually talk to a doctor it's like murder trying to and i wanna make sure these people know what there talking about and can detect it. Are there many cases where they think it's isolated but the baby turns out with Trisomy 18? Should i get an amnio even though there is such a high risk for miscarriage due to it (1 out of 250) or should i just settle with waiting for the Level II ultrasound and if the CPC's are still there just sit around and wait??? Ugh...i was told the first pregnancy was hard but nothing like this!

Yesterday I discovered that my baby has CPC yesterday I was crying because cyst & brain when they go together they are scary. Today doing my research I am more full of hope because I am reading a lot about it and I see that it should not be a problem. Anyways though my husband & I want to do the amniosenthesis to be 100% sure. Although i did have early assessment tests done and I had very good resaults I still want to be sure.

My god I was so scared yesterday and today I am full of optimisem...

My son had the same cysts on his brain. They went away and all is healthy. However, though it may not be related ...I have also noticed elevated intellegince and an outstanding immune system. My son has only had 3 sinus infections in his 7 years of life. He also has a remarkable ability at playing sports. It is like there is nothing he can't do or be good at. However, I have been researching this today because he was diagnosed with AD/HD. I was just curious if they were linked somehow. I have found no evidence that they are thus far. However, if you have the same issues please reply i would like to hear about it.

My second son had these while I was pregnant. My husband and I went online to find out everything we could about it. There is so much scary information out there, we were complete wrecks until the next ultrasound. But by then it had resolved itself and everything was fine. He is now 2 1/2 years old and is completely healthy and mentally intact.