Dermoid cyst in pregnancy

[BlenheimOrange]

Hi there. The sonographer found a dermoid cyst at my 20 week scan, there was nothing there at 12 weeks. It’s big enough (8cm)!that they’d be removing it if I wasn’t pregnant (said the dr at my obstetric follow up appointment), but that’s literally all I learnt. She didn’t know if I should have follow up scans to monitor, whether it was likely to grow much further, whether they would want to take it out during my CS or later.

Has anyone had one of these in pregnancy? Whar monitoring/scans did you get to keep an eye on it? What difference did it make to your CS if you had it out then - I assume it makes a much longer surgery and harder recovery? And - did you manage to keep the ovary, because I don’t want to lose that.

Hi @BlenheimOrange

I had a large cyst, 9cm two years ago which was discovered when I had an ectopic pregnancy. They removed it at the same time as my tube, but the ovary was left and all was fine! One of these things.

2 years later, no symptoms but it's filled up again and it's 8cm. I am getting a scan at 16 weeks to keep an eye on it and have been told if it's stable they'd leave it. My scan is next week followed by a consult with a doctor so I plan to ask a few questions - what if you leave it, will it be removed in the future etc.

I have read online, that removal after 20weeks is safer than before but they'd only do that if it was going to cause problems with your pregnancy.

Sorry perhaps no answers here but I know it's sometimes nice to have someone in a similar position.

Hi there, thank you for sharing! I’m glad they were able to preserve the ovary when they removed it first time. Would you mind letting me know what the dr says next week? I’m hoping to get some more info from the hospital at some point, as the Dr I saw was going to ask a colleague, but your questions are exactly the ones I’d like to know too.

I've had one for a few years (before I was pregnant). Mine was mentioned once during pregnancy and never again!

In non Covid times I normally have an annual scan to monitor. It's on the verge of the size where they'd remove apparently.

Absolutely, happy to share any information as I've struggled to find much online so if it can answer any questions.

I have my midwife appointment tomorrow as well so may see if she's able to answer anything!

I think if you are keen for more children they will retain your ovary - although, I guess mine came back but I'd have no idea if it wasn't for baby!

Hi OP I had one of these about 9cm attached to my ovary discovered in a early scan with my second 4 years ago, I never knew I had it but loads of discussion about removing it during pregnancy but in the end they waited a few months after birth to take it out.

It was very much attached to my
Ovary and it bled a lot on removal so I dont think one of them actually works. The good news is I am now in the early stages of pregnancy no 3 so you can conceive again, I did worry about it x

I had one a few years ago when pregnant with my first child. They actually spotted it at the 12 week scan before they saw the baby. It was monitored closely during the pregnancy and I had to have a couple of extra scans for it.

I was told that I would require surgery to remove it when the baby was around 6 months old. I did ask if I could have a c-section and have it removed at the same time but was told that this wasn’t adviseable and so wasn’t an option.....

Unfortunately, I woke up in excruciating pain a week before my due date and got to the hospital. For some reason they suspected it was a urine infection, and monitored me for that day and night. The next morning the on call doctor came to see me and said that she wasn’t happy with my obs, and as I was 39 weeks, didn’t want to take any chances and wanted me induced that day.

Well, things didn’t progress and I ended up having an emergency c-sec under general anaesthetic. It was only when I woke up, that I was told that I’d had a burst ovarian cyst and that they’d had to remove both an ovary and a tube. I was only in hospital for 2 nights after that and recovery was no worse than a normal c-section.

I was worried about the chances of having more children but was told that shouldn’t be an issue as the other ovary just takes over. Well, they were right-I went on to have 2 more children after that. The first of those conceived at the first time of trying!

Thanks for sharing these experiences. It isn’t future fertility that bothers me so much as normal hormonal function - I’d rather not halve my hormone levels when I’m years off menopause.

I recall had multiple dermoids removed. Back in June we had a miscarriage at 12 weeks and at the scan a dermoid cyst was found. After having an MRI they found a 15cm dermoid on the left ovary and 2 2cm on the right. 15cm is classed as abnormally larges so, because of the size of the left I was bumped up the list for urgent surgery and had my op in September. My surgeon was fantastic, she made me aware prior to the surgery the left ovary would probably be removed be a use of the size and the right, they may not be able to remove the cysts at all because of how small they were. Anyway, the surgery went fantastic. She removed the 2 small ones and the right ovary is intact, the left cyst has been removed, and some of the left ovary was left intact but some had to be removed.
I was so worried about hormones and getting pregnant especially with some hormone missing and previous miscarriages. But we've just had a positive pregnancy test which I cant believe so soon after surgery so will be only 4 weeks pregnant and obviously a long way to go now, but im so happy that even with the trauma to my ovaries, they have worked as they should. I think the surgeons try and keep as much of the ovary now as they can if you are not menopausal. Hopefully everything goes OK with your cyst

Thanks for sharing your story @ChaseTheSun - I wondered about section and removal at same time but sounds like they avoid that. Guess I'll just need to wait and see what happens. Surgery with a 6 month old doesn't sound great either but neither does having a large cyst on my ovary.

Hi :)

I had my little girl 7 weeks ago and had an 8cm dermoid cyst while pregnant.

It didn’t cause me any issues during pregnancy and I didn’t get any extra scans because of it but I did have extra scans as I was consultant led for other reasons so they just checked on it each time to make sure it wasn’t getting bigger.

My little girl was breech so i had a csection planned. I Discussed with the consultant about removing the cyst at the same time. He said they would only do this if it was safe and would depend on blood loss etc.

On the day of the section everything went really smooth so they removed the cyst also. I would say I was in theatre from the start of the section for about an hour all in but it really didn’t feel that long as I was to pre occupied with the baby to care about what was still going on haha.

I wouldn’t say my recovery was any worse. I was out and about with the pram on day 4 for a short walk and have been feeling back to 100% myself since about 4 weeks post section. If you have any other questions feel free to ask :) x

I’ve lost one ovary due to a dermoid cyst. It will need removed so if possible I would do it at the same time as the section, one recovery (maybe a little longer) is better than two.
I have a cyst now on my other ovary and am currently pregnant, having an additional scan in four weeks to monitor but they haven’t said if I need anything additional beyond that!

I hate to scare you but my personal experience 12 years ago with dd1 was very traumatic tbh.

I had a dermoid cyst on my left ovary that apparently I had had since birth! It was picked up in an early scan when I fell pregnant with dd1 and started having pain.

I was put on consultant led care as a result and told I would have no choice but to have a planned C-section as the cyst was blocking the birth canal.

During the C-section, they tried to remove the cyst, but I developed a haemotoma (nearly needed a blood confusion), so they took my ovary out to stop the bleeding!

I was 33 years old and had a hideous recovery. I didn't feel OK for about a year afterwards and it was 2 years before we started trying for Dd2.

The doctors said to me, as I still had my left fallopian tube, the right ovary would compensate for the missing left one and my chances of getting pregnant again would be more like 70%, instead of the 50% I would have thought.

I got pregnant with dd1 the first month and Dd2 took 5 months. Still pretty good going I reckon, for only one ovary!

I have had lots of issues since, including very heavy periods and bad abdominal pain. But that's mainly due to internal scar tissue I've been told 🤷‍♀️

ek3009 it’s really encouraging that doing it at the same time as your CS didn’t make the surgery take hours. I’m hoping that might be possible for me too. I do want some extra scans though as it’s come from nowhere in 8 weeks!

Hi @BlenheimOrange

We had our appointments today, and our cyst has shrunk ever so slightly to 7cm. They don't seem to be too concerned about it as they can see it's a simple cyst, but will be keeping an eye on it throughout all scans and I do have an additional follow up consultants appointment because of it.

I asked if at what point they'd carry out surgery during pregnancy - and I was told it's very rarely done so for me this would never be an option. They did say if I ended up with a section they'd drain the cyst then as well, it if not I'd go back around 3 months after birth and they'd check in it again! If it was still there, they'd drain it but this could be done by a needle and ultrasound rather than full surgery!

Overall my nerves have totally subsided! Hope this may give you a bit of hope! X

Thank you very much for coming back to let me know! I’m quite encouraged that yours shrank slightly rather than growing. Mine is mostly solid not fluid so I don’t think draining it is an option.