Fetal Abdominopelvic Cysts
Ashish Jain, Pratape Soumya Singh
Abstract
Fetal abdominopelvic cysts can range from small lesions, which are found incidentally, to large ones occupying the entire peritoneal cavity. They may be unilocular or complex and septate. This spectrum additionally includes diverse organs of origin. A universal prenatal ultrasound identifies many of these cysts and can help in offering possible treatment options before delivery or in the immediate postpartum period.
The cysts may be life-threatening, cause persistent morbidity, or have no significant sequelae. In the fetal abdomen, the renal tract and dilated bowel are the most common sites where cysts appear. True cysts could arise from the biliary tree, ovaries, mesentery, or uterus. Ovarian cysts are among the most common antenatal pelvic cysts with good prognosis, and persistent cloacal abnormality is the very rare one with extremely bad outcomes. Although ultrasound is the diagnostic approach in most of the cases, in some cases, magnetic resonance imaging is needed for the diagnosis of cysts, especially in those involving the bladder or gastrointestinal tract.
Management of these cysts can vary from postnatal follow-up scans to postnatal surgical excision.
Please fill the form to download the PDF of this article:
(* Mandatory fields)