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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Treatment For Painful Cyst In Scapula

hello my mom is 97 year old in reasonably good health. We just had a check up last week and looks like we may need to go back . My mom has suddenly developed a cyst on her right scapula. It is painful and we started acetaminophen for pain every fours hours this am. she has osteoarthrits and pulmonary fibrosis, has had a positive tb test in the past but did not have active tb. she lost a fair amount of blood a few months ago form a severely bleeding hemorrhoid. She took an iron supplement for a couple of months and since the appointment last week have discontinued the iron. She takes a low dose of Bactrim daily for about a year now. She depends on using her arms for mobility since she had her left hip prosthesis removed due to bone infection. That was removed 4 or 5 years ago and she learned to walk again with a walker even though the medical folks said she would be confined to a wheel chair (just mentioning this to give you a sense of her determination and grit) so to get to the question......what is the lump from? injury? infection? tb? cancer?
Tue, 27 Jan 2015
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Internal Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
There is no way to know what the lump is from without it being examined. My first thought is it could be an abscess. These can come up fairly suddenly and are painful. They are also usually red, inflamed, and warm to touch. Treatment requires draining the abscess and sometimes taking antibiotics. I doubt that it is TB. She could have a lump from an injury, but you don't mention any recent injury. Unlikely to be cancer as it came up so suddenly. But again, it must be examined to be sure. Get her into urgent care or emergency so this can be taken care of quickly. Hope this helps.
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Suggest Treatment For Painful Cyst In Scapula

There is no way to know what the lump is from without it being examined. My first thought is it could be an abscess. These can come up fairly suddenly and are painful. They are also usually red, inflamed, and warm to touch. Treatment requires draining the abscess and sometimes taking antibiotics. I doubt that it is TB. She could have a lump from an injury, but you don t mention any recent injury. Unlikely to be cancer as it came up so suddenly. But again, it must be examined to be sure. Get her into urgent care or emergency so this can be taken care of quickly. Hope this helps.