Cystic Hygroma

When I was pregnant with my 2nd child, I had an ultrasound at 11 weeks and they found what they thought to be a cystic hygroma. My OB went through all of the what if's and our options. I ended up going to Yale New Haven and having a CVS. It was not fun but not as bad as I had envisioned. The results were fine and they said the cyst would disappear. Almost 10 years later, I have a happy, healthy little girl. I wish you the best of luck, trust your instincts, I knew that everything was going to be OK.

Hi, L.- I am sorry your are going through this scare, but I am HAPPY I can say what I am about to tell you. At 9 weeks a cystic hygroma was found by u/s. We were sent to maternal fetal medicine to discuss our "options" for diagnosis, blah, blah, blah, Turners, Noonans, fetal demise, awful, awful. They counseled us and told us to return at 11 weeks for another ultrasound. My husband and I were scared and sad and feeling everything you are feeling right now.

Well, at 11 weeks there was NO hygroma. Nor was there one at 20. In fact, our baby boy is one week old! He was 10lbs. 3 oz. at birth and appears just great(babies in our family are all big and robust and he was no different!).
Now, of course, there is a chance something might manifest itself later, but, as of right now, he is perfect!!!!!

I do not know what week your pregnancy is, and that might impact your results. I hope your story turns out like ours. I posted the same question you did and got 3 responses (none negative that I remember), so there is hope. Do remain realistic, though. Just so you know, we opted for no amnio or CVS as we would never have done anything differently with the info we received.

GOOD LUCK and please let me know how you make out.
Barbara

As an ultrasound tech, I have seen several cystic hygromas over the years. I believe all but one of them resolved before birth. I can only think of one that did not turn out "normal". On this baby I found an abnormal heart and abnormal kidneys along with it. The mother did choose to terminate and the fetus was found to have abnormal chromosomes. Get what testing you feel comfortable with, but I would personally feel comfortable if it was the only abnormal finding by ultrasound. Good luck! I will pray for a healthy baby for you!

My daughter developed a cystic hygroma (granted it was quite a few years ago!) a few weeks after she was born. It resolved itself. It was as if she swallowed a golf ball and it was on the side of her neck. Of course the ped surgeon we went to, wanted to operate. They scare the life out of you. I researched all I could, and waited a week, it started going down. So I kept an eye on it and it slowly disappeared. Anyway, since yours is in utero I would get as much testing as you could, without hurting anything. It might be a matter of just waiting and watching. Best of luck, it is such a wonderful, yet nerve racking time.

Yes. Around 12 weeks when I went to get my nuchal test they saw a hygroma. I was immediately rushed to get a CVS that day- the time frame was almost up. I had so many tests throughout the pregnancy- so many sonograms. BUT- everything was fine and I have a very healthy girl. The hygroma was never seen again. Docs say that sometimes they see them early on and then the resolve on their own. They also say that it is more common than we may think bc years ago they didn't have the capability to do all the tests they do now and so early on. So its possible that a lot more people have hygromas early in the pregnancy and by the end, they are gone. And, do not google it online. What you see on the computer about hygromas can scare you. No need to look at the extreme. Good luck!