Kidney Cysts
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OVERVIEW
What are kidney cysts?
The kidneys remove waste from your blood. They do this by filtering the blood and making urine. As people get older, sacs filled with fluid can form in the kidneys. These sacs are called “cysts.” They are usually small oval or round thin-walled sacs with watery fluid in them.
Kidney cysts are almost always benign (not cancerous). Usually, the cysts don’t cause any problems. In fact, people can go through life without even knowing that they have them.
Some people have kidney cysts caused by an inherited disease called polycystic kidney disease (PKD). This disease can cause symptoms such as high blood pressure, pain in the back and side, blood in the urine or frequent kidney infections. Not all people who have PKD will have these symptoms.
How common are kidney cysts?
Up to 50 percent of people older than 50 years of age have kidney cysts.
SYMPTOMS
If you have kidney cysts, you may have these symptoms:
- Pain on your side between your ribs and your hip,
- Pain in your belly or back,
- A fever,
- Frequent urination,
- Blood in your urine or dark urine.
If you’re having any of these problems, you should contact your healthcare provider.
CAUSES
What causes cysts on the kidneys?
If your kidney cysts are caused by PKD, then they are inherited. This means you have them because they run in your family. For most people, though, this is not the case. Healthcare providers aren’t sure why the cysts form for them. It could be that the kidney surface weakens over time. This could explain why cysts on the kidneys are most common in people who are age 50 and older.
DIAGNOSIS & TESTS
How are kidney cysts diagnosed?
Almost all kidney cysts are found on tests that create a picture of your internal organs. These tests include ultrasound, computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Sometimes kidney cysts are found when one of these tests is performed for another reason.
PREVENTION
Can kidney cysts be prevented or avoided?
Because healthcare providers aren’t sure what causes them, kidney cysts cannot be prevented or avoided.
TREATMENT
If you’re not having any of the symptoms listed in the “Symptoms” section, and your kidney cyst is small, you may not need any treatment. Your healthcare provider might want to check the cyst again with a CT scan in 6 to 12 months.
If you start having problems, your healthcare provider might want you to have a CT or MRI scan of your kidney to see if the cyst is growing.
If the cyst on your kidney is large or if it contains calcifications (hard, stony pieces) or dense tissue, you might need to have CT scans every so often so that your healthcare provider can watch for changes in the cyst.
If your cyst is blocking blood flow or urine flow, your healthcare provider may have to treat it. They may use a procedure called sclerotherapy. During sclerotherapy, a healthcare provider will use a long needle to drain the cyst. They will then fill the cyst with an alcohol solution to harden kidney tissue.
Will I need surgery to remove a kidney cyst?
If a cyst on the kidney isn’t causing any problems, it probably won’t need to be removed. If the cyst on your kidney is getting larger or if it’s causing problems, your healthcare provider may send you to a urologist (a healthcare provider who has special training in kidney problems).
Living with kidney cysts
If you are over 50 years old, there is a good chance you have cysts on your kidneys and don’t realize it. You may never realize it because you may never have symptoms. And most kidney cysts do not cause any problems.
If you do have symptoms (back or belly pain, blood in your urine, etc.), contact your healthcare provider. They can advise you on a treatment or ways to help relieve your symptoms.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Canadian Kidney Foundation website:
60051