Thyroglossal Duct Cyst diagnosis at age 61

Posted by annemarieb @annemarieb, 3 days ago

Hi -- Has anyone here been diagnosed with a thryroglossal duct cyst as an older adult, and if so, how was it treated?
Very curious that it never bothered me until about 2-3 years ago. They are usually caught in early childhood. I had a feeling of fullness in my throat -- almost a choking sensation. I actually thought it was from grief over my mother's passing -- y'know, that "lump in the throat" feeling. My PCP ordered a CT scan with contrast and they estimated it was pretty large. The ENT she recommended seemed a bit too anxious to schedule surgery even though he agreed it was not dangerous -- just probably annoying. He explained how they would have to take out not just the cyst and nearby tissue, but also "break the hyoid bone to keep it from coming back." In describing the surgery he said something that bothered me -- that a younger female patient declined the surgery because it would leave a two inch scar across her neck and he rolled his eyes. That, and the 2 week recovery period made me also rethink getting the surgery right away.
Fast forward two years and the cyst feels larger and is often painful, particularly at night or when swallowing or just tilting my head down a certain way. Also, I have to clear my throat very frequently as I often have a bit of thick mucous stuck in there which is very persistent. It is worse in the morning. My PCP also agrees that this could be what is causing or worsening my obstructive sleep apnea and snoring.
Recently I read about a non-surgical treatment for TGDCs that uses ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation (sclerotherapy) to inject alcohol to shrink the cyst. It is minimally invasive, scarless, cost-effective, and done as an out-patient procedure with a quick recovery time. It has a 15% chance of recurrence, but I don't think that's much worse than the surgery. Sometimes a second treatment is necessary.
I saw my PCP again today and she is looking for another ENT and hopefully one that can use the ethanol ablation. Thoughts?

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