What Causes Pain In Arm And Chest After Surgery To Drain Cyst In Throat?

Posted on Mon, 1 Dec 2014

Question: My sister just had surgery to drain a cyst in the back of her throat or neck. She was in sever pain down her arm (left, I think) and down into her chest. She is now in ICU. What makes this life threatening? I live 1500 miles away and can not get clear answers from her husband.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (21 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Detailed below.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

It is hard to give exact answer as there are few possibilities. First of all infection can be the reason she is in ICU. Especially if this was not a cyst but an abscess.
Another thing is that she may have problems with heart insufficiency especially if she has any heart problems diagnosed before.
Lungs issues like asthma, lungs infection, kidney failure, all this issues can be a single factor of ICU admission.
But is really hard to tell having only handful of data.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Note: For further follow-up it is advisable to consult an emergency medicine specialist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar