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:''This is an article about cysts in the body.''
:''For the ICAO airport code 'CYST' see St. Theresa Point Airport.''
:''For hard-shelled resting stages of some small organisms, see encystment.''
A 'cyst' (soft "c", rhymes with "list") is a closed sac having a distinct membrane and develosion on the nearby tissue. They may contain air, fluids, or semi-solid material. A collection of pus is called an abscess, not a cyst. Once formed, the cyst will remain in the tissue permanently and can be removed by surgery and by taking medication that will dissolve the "sac".
A cyst may also be a sack that encloses an organism during a dormant period, such as in the case of certain parasites. This type of cyst may, for instance, protect a parasite from the churning acid of the stomach so it may pass through to the intestines unharmed where it can then break out.
Cystic fibrosis is an example of a genetic disorder whereby cysts and fibrosis develop in the lungs.

Contents

Locations

Related structures

External links

Locations

Cysts can occur anywhere in the body; some of common ones are listed here:

★ Chalazion cyst (eyelid)

★ Cysticercal cyst (the larval stage of ''Taenia sp.'')

★ Dentigerous Cyst (associated with the crowns of non-erupted teeth)

★ Epididymal Cyst (found in the vessels attached to the testes)

★ Ganglion cyst (hand/foot joints and tendons)

★ Glial Cyst (in the brain)

★ Gartner's duct cyst (vaginal or vulvar cyst of embryological origin)

★ Keratocyst (in the jaws, these can appear solitary or associated with the Gorlin-Goltz or Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. The latest World Health Organization classification considers Keratocysts as tumors rather than cysts)

★ Meibomian cyst (eyelid)

★ Nabothian cyst (cervix)

★ Ovarian cyst (ovaries, functional and pathological)

★ Paratubal cyst (fallopian tube)

★ Pilonidal cyst (skin infection near tailbone)

★ Renal cyst (kidneys)

★ Radicular cyst (associated with the roots of non-vital teeth)

★ Sebaceous cyst (sac below skin)

★ Tarlov cyst (spine)

★ Vocal fold cyst

★ Dermoid cyst (Skull and ovaries)

★ Breast cyst

Related structures

A pseudocyst is collection without a distinct membrane.
A syrinx in the spinal cord or brainstem is sometimes inaccurately referred to as a cyst.

External links

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★ "Cyst Symptoms and Causes" by Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD and William C. Shiel, Jr., MD, FACP, FACR.