Hi all, I was diagnosed with two splenic cysts (5.5 and 4.2 cm) via ultrasound recently. I am waiting on CT results as well. I am a librarian, so I immediately took to researching all the latest papers published in the last 5-6 years. I too am experiencing the nonchalant and flippant attitudes of most of the medical professionals I have consulted thus far. The literature says full splenectomy if you have more than one cyst or if your cyst is larger than 5 cm and symptomatic (i.e. painful). I have two and they're big(ish) and so far have been told to wait and see by a general surgeon (family friend) and told it was no big deal by a GI doc. I will ask for a referral to a hematologist once I see my family doctor to go over the CT results. I am also in a lot of discomfort and increasing pain on the left side. I also have bad left shoulder pain (apparently common with this) and GI issues which I am convinced is all related. For those consulting with a Gastroenterologist for splenic cysts, someone in another group told me not to bother as they won't do anything about the spleen, only a hematologist will. Now, I don't know if that is true, but I thought it was interesting considering how my GI doc reacted.

I'm in Vancouver, BC, Canada and our medical system is painfully slow. Lots of waiting. I'm 35 and wondering if a surgical option is better to do now when I'm relatively young and can bounce back quicker than waiting until this gets really out of hand and doing a full splenectomy when I'm older and possibly less healthy. If anyone is in Canada and has advice about our system or a doctor who is knowledgeable about this, please let me know! According to the literature, splenic cysts are relatively rare and I haven't been able to find a doctor in my country who has experience with this yet. Anyway, I will keep you all posted as to my progress as this unfolds.

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