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Choroid Plexus Cysts
Submitted by Jonathon Dorff, MD

 

  • Cyst-like spaces that occur in the choroid in approximately 1-6% of fetuses between 13 and 24 weeks gestation
  • Majority are small and incidental, disappearing by 26 weeks gestation
  • Thought to represent entrapment of cerebrospinal fluid within an in-folding of neuroepithelium
  • May be associated with chromosomal abnormalities, especially trisomy 18
    • Likelihood ratio of trisomy 18 with isolated choroid plexus cyst ranges from 0.03 to 13.8 times the mother’s background risk
    • Trisomy 18 is almost always associated with other structural abnormalities
    • When a choroid plexus cyst is identified
      • In addition to the routine anatomic survey, a targeted search for structural abnormalities should be performed
    • Amniocentesis should be offered when a fetus has both a choroid plexus cyst and additional structural abnormalities

·        Rare cases of symptomatic choroid plexus cysts causing obstructive hydrocephalus have been reported

 

Two images form an unenhanced axial CT of the brain show
 ring-like calcifications in the region of the choroid plexus representing choroid plexus cysts

 

Middleton, William D., etc: Ultrasound: The Requisites, 2nd edition, 2004.
Rumack, Carol, etc: Diagnostic Ultrasound, 3rd edition, 2005.