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Is It Safe For Someone With Pineal Gland Cyst To

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Posted on Sun, 30 Jun 2019
Question: Is it safe for someone with pineal gland cyst to travel by plane? Is the cyst easily ruptured?
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Follow up: Dr. Dariush Saghafi (0 minute later)
Is it safe for someone with pineal gland cyst to travel by plane? Is the cyst easily ruptured?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dariush Saghafi (50 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
No danger to travel with a pineal cyst

Detailed Answer:
Good evening and thank you for your question.

Pineal cysts are fluid (water) filled small sacs in the region or within the pineal gland which is located in the rear portion of the brain. It is not known precisely what really leads to these cysts but they are like virtually every other cyst in the body which is benign and do not have any tendency to rupture. They are not at all similar in any way to aneurysms of blood vessels and so you should have no fear or trepidation traveling with the cysts on a boat, plane, train, or submarine....even if traveling into the Marianas Trench! :0

These cysts are usually found in women and are found incidentally in the brain and often times during scans looking done due to headaches. Pineal cysts are generally not believed to be responsible for headaches unless there is a significant MASS EFFECT which means that the cyst (due to its size or location) could actually be displacing portions of the brain to a point where stretching of the coverings of the brain (meninges). Otherwise, pineal gland cysts are pretty silent and unremarkable when found. Surgical removal is not necessary nor is any other form of intervention such as radiation therapy or medication to try and reduce size...because none of those methods work or they are far too aggressive against such a benign entity that just going after them itself could cause damage to good brain tissue.

Because their incidence in women is so high compared to men one theory is that they may actually come about because of hormonal fluctuations in the woman. Some investigators believe that a number of these cysts are also anatomical variations that come about while the fetus is developing, again are benign, and rarely if ever cause noticeable symptoms.

Of course, since I think it's important to make sure patients always know the full story behind medical phenomenon then, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the fact that on very rare occasion a pineal cyst due to its size or location COULD cause symptoms to be manifest such as HEADACHES or in even rarer instances EYE MOVEMENT disorders especially when it comes to being restricted in looking UPWARD. This is referred as PARINAUD'S SYNDROME but is indeed a rare complication of pineal cysts. In these cases where headaches or other medical conditions are known to be associated surgery and resection of the cyst are clearly to the patient's benefit and likely outweigh risks.

Exact standards by radiologists as well as neurologists or neurosurgeons for what constitutes "small" or "large" cysts vary but most people would likely agree that if a cyst were >10mm. in size that it could be considered a bit on the large size whereas <10mm would be a bit on the smaller side. Anything <5mm. is clearly a SMALL cyst..... and anything <3mm. in size could actually be artifactual and may want to be reimaged if it is important to know DEFINITELY if a cyst exists or not. Usually, when pineal cysts are causing trouble such as the ones I listed above there are at least a couple if not more symptoms accompanying such as vertigo, imbalance, limb/body movements called ATAXIC (uncoordinated/robot like) which come about again due to either size, location, or both and depending on severity of symptoms can be relieved using surgery.

Believe it or not there are actually FACEBOOK pages dedicated to ONLINE groups and member organizations related to PINEAL CYSTS! Here is a short list that you are welcome to look up ON FACEBOOK if you'd like:

Pineal Cyst
Living with a Pineal Cyst
Pineal Cysts and Tumors - Canada
Pineal Cyst Awareness

Therefore, if your doctor has done the detail of determining whether or not this pineal cyst is BENIGN in nature then, you are fully at your leisure to take trips in planes that are pressurized or not and not worry of how the cyst will respond.

If I've provided useful or helpful information to your question could you do me the utmost of favors by CLOSING THE QUERY along with a few positive words of feedback and maybe even a 5-star rating if you feel it is deserving when you have a moment?

I am definitely interested in getting updated information on your condition if you'd care to drop me a line at www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi and let me know how things are going.

You can always reach me at the above address for this and other questions. I wish you the best with everything and hope our discussion has aided in your understanding of a few concepts related to your concerns.

CHEERS!

This query required 32 minutes of professional time to research, assimilate, and file a response.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dariush Saghafi (0 minute later)
Brief Answer:
No danger to travel with a pineal cyst

Detailed Answer:
Good evening and thank you for your question.

Pineal cysts are fluid (water) filled small sacs in the region or within the pineal gland which is located in the rear portion of the brain. It is not known precisely what really leads to these cysts but they are like virtually every other cyst in the body which is benign and do not have any tendency to rupture. They are not at all similar in any way to aneurysms of blood vessels and so you should have no fear or trepidation traveling with the cysts on a boat, plane, train, or submarine....even if traveling into the Marianas Trench! :0

These cysts are usually found in women and are found incidentally in the brain and often times during scans looking done due to headaches. Pineal cysts are generally not believed to be responsible for headaches unless there is a significant MASS EFFECT which means that the cyst (due to its size or location) could actually be displacing portions of the brain to a point where stretching of the coverings of the brain (meninges). Otherwise, pineal gland cysts are pretty silent and unremarkable when found. Surgical removal is not necessary nor is any other form of intervention such as radiation therapy or medication to try and reduce size...because none of those methods work or they are far too aggressive against such a benign entity that just going after them itself could cause damage to good brain tissue.

Because their incidence in women is so high compared to men one theory is that they may actually come about because of hormonal fluctuations in the woman. Some investigators believe that a number of these cysts are also anatomical variations that come about while the fetus is developing, again are benign, and rarely if ever cause noticeable symptoms.

Of course, since I think it's important to make sure patients always know the full story behind medical phenomenon then, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the fact that on very rare occasion a pineal cyst due to its size or location COULD cause symptoms to be manifest such as HEADACHES or in even rarer instances EYE MOVEMENT disorders especially when it comes to being restricted in looking UPWARD. This is referred as PARINAUD'S SYNDROME but is indeed a rare complication of pineal cysts. In these cases where headaches or other medical conditions are known to be associated surgery and resection of the cyst are clearly to the patient's benefit and likely outweigh risks.

Exact standards by radiologists as well as neurologists or neurosurgeons for what constitutes "small" or "large" cysts vary but most people would likely agree that if a cyst were >10mm. in size that it could be considered a bit on the large size whereas <10mm would be a bit on the smaller side. Anything <5mm. is clearly a SMALL cyst..... and anything <3mm. in size could actually be artifactual and may want to be reimaged if it is important to know DEFINITELY if a cyst exists or not. Usually, when pineal cysts are causing trouble such as the ones I listed above there are at least a couple if not more symptoms accompanying such as vertigo, imbalance, limb/body movements called ATAXIC (uncoordinated/robot like) which come about again due to either size, location, or both and depending on severity of symptoms can be relieved using surgery.

Believe it or not there are actually FACEBOOK pages dedicated to ONLINE groups and member organizations related to PINEAL CYSTS! Here is a short list that you are welcome to look up ON FACEBOOK if you'd like:

Pineal Cyst
Living with a Pineal Cyst
Pineal Cysts and Tumors - Canada
Pineal Cyst Awareness

Therefore, if your doctor has done the detail of determining whether or not this pineal cyst is BENIGN in nature then, you are fully at your leisure to take trips in planes that are pressurized or not and not worry of how the cyst will respond.

If I've provided useful or helpful information to your question could you do me the utmost of favors by CLOSING THE QUERY along with a few positive words of feedback and maybe even a 5-star rating if you feel it is deserving when you have a moment?

I am definitely interested in getting updated information on your condition if you'd care to drop me a line at www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi and let me know how things are going.

You can always reach me at the above address for this and other questions. I wish you the best with everything and hope our discussion has aided in your understanding of a few concepts related to your concerns.

CHEERS!

This query required 32 minutes of professional time to research, assimilate, and file a response.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Dariush Saghafi (2 hours later)
Thank you so much Dr. XXXXXXX Do I need to monitor closely the growth of the pineal cyst? Is it common for this type of cyst to grow substantially within a short period of time?
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Follow up: Dr. Dariush Saghafi (0 minute later)
Thank you so much Dr. XXXXXXX Do I need to monitor closely the growth of the pineal cyst? Is it common for this type of cyst to grow substantially within a short period of time?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dariush Saghafi (6 hours later)
Brief Answer:
No need to monitor- they don't typically grow

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for the return question and no there is no need to be monitoring these things for any reason. They do not tend to grow rapidly. Remember, these are fluid filled sacs which are typically small. I don't know the size of yours but most that I've seen measure <10 mm. They are not the same as tumorous growths which lots of rapidly dividing cells or anything like that.

They can be thought of as similar to cysts that a woman might find in her breasts...is that something you're at all familiar with? And as you probably know such cysts are typically benign and don't even cause any symptoms except for the fact that they may be noticeable by the woman when she feels the breast for some reason....but they don't tend to grow continuously or rapidly.

Pineal cysts are kind of the same so nothing to worry about.

I've seen cases where either primary doctors or radiologists have even recommended monitoring and honestly, I'm not in agreement with those calls just for the sake of "monitoring." There aren't a whole of studies that have followed pineal cysts for extremely long periods of time to know exactly what happens to them...but I can tell you that one of the longest studies looking at the natural progression of these entities followed patients with cysts for up to 10 years and found that in 75-80% the cysts either stayed perfectly stable in size OR in 20% of those they got smaller OR in 8% of those they went away completely. In the other 20-25% of the cases looked at the cysts grew an average of 2.5 mm. from their initially discovered size. It is believed that anywhere from 25-40% of healthy human beings have pineal cysts although less than half of these are ever discovered during life (such as yours).

So rest easy my dear and enjoy your plane ride to wherever you're planning to go knowing that you and your pineal cyst are going to have a great time on the beach, in the wilderness, or skydiving if that's ultimately what you are going to do from the plane you're flying in! Not only that, take a look around you on the plane and know that as many as 25-40% of the passengers have the same thing you do...and more than half of them don't even know it! HAHA!

Once again young lady, if I've provided with legit information that helps you understand your situation a bit more and feel more at ease please do me the favor of CLOSING THE THREAD and if you feel so moved adding a line or two of POSITIVE FEEDBACK with a 5-star rating. That way, my next bag of peanuts can be a bit bigger to munch on while I'm answering your questions on anything else! LOL!

Lemme know how things are going after your trip if you'd like by writing to me at www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi and how whatever else might be happening for which you got the MRI of the brain in the first place (headaches or dizziness or something along those lines I'm imagining?).

You can always reach me at the above address for this and other questions. Be well.

This query required a total of 52 minutes of professional time to research, assimilate, and file a response.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dariush Saghafi (0 minute later)
Brief Answer:
No need to monitor- they don't typically grow

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for the return question and no there is no need to be monitoring these things for any reason. They do not tend to grow rapidly. Remember, these are fluid filled sacs which are typically small. I don't know the size of yours but most that I've seen measure <10 mm. They are not the same as tumorous growths which lots of rapidly dividing cells or anything like that.

They can be thought of as similar to cysts that a woman might find in her breasts...is that something you're at all familiar with? And as you probably know such cysts are typically benign and don't even cause any symptoms except for the fact that they may be noticeable by the woman when she feels the breast for some reason....but they don't tend to grow continuously or rapidly.

Pineal cysts are kind of the same so nothing to worry about.

I've seen cases where either primary doctors or radiologists have even recommended monitoring and honestly, I'm not in agreement with those calls just for the sake of "monitoring." There aren't a whole of studies that have followed pineal cysts for extremely long periods of time to know exactly what happens to them...but I can tell you that one of the longest studies looking at the natural progression of these entities followed patients with cysts for up to 10 years and found that in 75-80% the cysts either stayed perfectly stable in size OR in 20% of those they got smaller OR in 8% of those they went away completely. In the other 20-25% of the cases looked at the cysts grew an average of 2.5 mm. from their initially discovered size. It is believed that anywhere from 25-40% of healthy human beings have pineal cysts although less than half of these are ever discovered during life (such as yours).

So rest easy my dear and enjoy your plane ride to wherever you're planning to go knowing that you and your pineal cyst are going to have a great time on the beach, in the wilderness, or skydiving if that's ultimately what you are going to do from the plane you're flying in! Not only that, take a look around you on the plane and know that as many as 25-40% of the passengers have the same thing you do...and more than half of them don't even know it! HAHA!

Once again young lady, if I've provided with legit information that helps you understand your situation a bit more and feel more at ease please do me the favor of CLOSING THE THREAD and if you feel so moved adding a line or two of POSITIVE FEEDBACK with a 5-star rating. That way, my next bag of peanuts can be a bit bigger to munch on while I'm answering your questions on anything else! LOL!

Lemme know how things are going after your trip if you'd like by writing to me at www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi and how whatever else might be happening for which you got the MRI of the brain in the first place (headaches or dizziness or something along those lines I'm imagining?).

You can always reach me at the above address for this and other questions. Be well.

This query required a total of 52 minutes of professional time to research, assimilate, and file a response.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Dariush Saghafi

Neurologist

Practicing since :1988

Answered : 2472 Questions

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Is It Safe For Someone With Pineal Gland Cyst To

Is it safe for someone with pineal gland cyst to travel by plane? Is the cyst easily ruptured?