Hello and welcome to EmpowHer,
The reasons why the doctors did expand on the matter is because most cysts that develop on the brain of a fetus disappear on their own with no consequence. This is mainly why they want you to come back for another check up: to see if the cyst is resolving itself.
With that being said, you should be aware that there is a very small amount of cases in which cysts can be associated with trisomy 18. This causes severe mental retardation and a variety of other problems including abnormalities of almost any organ system such as the heart, brain and kidneys. Most infants with trisomy 18 are stillborn or do not live pasts infancy.
Your doctor did not want to scare you with that information, since there is no reason at this point to believe your child has trisomy 18!!
Going forward, you have a few options. If in the next check up your doctor says, for example, the cyst is getting bigger, you can request a Amniocentesis test which counts the number of chromosomes in the fetus to be certain there is not an extra copy of chromosome 18.
However, there is a small risk of amniocentesis causing a miscarriage.
These are all decisions you will probably not have to make, since most cysts resolve themselves with no negative effects on the baby whatsoever!
I hope that helps a little. Let us know if you have any more questions.
Faith
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Hello and welcome to EmpowHer,
The reasons why the doctors did expand on the matter is because most cysts that develop on the brain of a fetus disappear on their own with no consequence. This is mainly why they want you to come back for another check up: to see if the cyst is resolving itself.
With that being said, you should be aware that there is a very small amount of cases in which cysts can be associated with trisomy 18. This causes severe mental retardation and a variety of other problems including abnormalities of almost any organ system such as the heart, brain and kidneys. Most infants with trisomy 18 are stillborn or do not live pasts infancy.
Your doctor did not want to scare you with that information, since there is no reason at this point to believe your child has trisomy 18!!
Going forward, you have a few options. If in the next check up your doctor says, for example, the cyst is getting bigger, you can request a Amniocentesis test which counts the number of chromosomes in the fetus to be certain there is not an extra copy of chromosome 18.
However, there is a small risk of amniocentesis causing a miscarriage.
These are all decisions you will probably not have to make, since most cysts resolve themselves with no negative effects on the baby whatsoever!
January 9, 2016 - 3:45pmI hope that helps a little. Let us know if you have any more questions.
Faith
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