Arachnoid cysts are sacs filled with cerebrospinal fluid that form within the arachnoid, one of the membranes of the brain. It constitutes 1% of space-occupying lesions in the brain. Although it can be seen at any age, approximately 75% of it is observed in children. It is 3 times more common in men than in women. It is not a tumor. They are benign space-occupying lesions. It may be present since birth, which we call congenital, or it may be observed after previous head traumas, infections, brain hemorrhages, or due to some brain tumors.
Headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, seizure (epilepsy, epilepsy attack), It may cause complaints such as balance disorders and hearing defects. Arachnoid cysts usually occur incidentally during examinations performed for another reason. In other words, most patients do not know about this disease.
Diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of arachnoid cyst is performed by a neurosurgeon, as in brain surgery or brain tumor surgery. Your doctor will first listen to your complaints and perform a detailed physical examination, and then request imaging tests such as brain tomography and brain MRI. EEG should be performed in those who complain of seizures. Your treatment will be shaped according to your examination results. Arachnoid cysts are often observed without requiring surgery. But in some cases, patients are operated on.
When is arachnoid cyst operated on? If the patient has unstoppable seizures, if it causes consciousness disorders, if its size constantly increases during follow-up, if weakness develops on one side of the body, if behavioral disorders begin, the surgery option is used.
One of the surgical treatment options for arachnoid cyst is the method of mouthing the cyst wall into the brain cavities, and the other option is to slowly evacuate the cyst into the abdominal cavity by establishing a pump system extending from the cyst to the abdominal cavity. Arachnoid cyst surgeries are very risky surgeries and an intensive care bed must be arranged before the surgery.
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