Wife has “many ovarian cysts some large”

jmute

She's been having pretty bad abdominal pain, weakness. She got some blood work and urine samples done. They found some some bacteria in her urine and did an ultra sound and found “many cysts some large". She's got to talk to her OBGYN for the “next step" Tuesday.

She's been on Tamoxifen for about 4 years, are ovarian cysts pretty common with Tamoxifen? Starting to get worried maybe she's got ovarian cancer, unfortunately this disease takes you to dark places mentally.

ShetlandPony

Yes, Tamoxifen can cause benign (not cancer) but painful ovarian cysts in premenopausal women.

Ovarian cysts in women receiving tamoxifen for breast cancer.

Mourits MJ, de Vries EG, Willemse PH, ten Hoor KA, Hollema H, Sluiter WJ, de Bruijn HW, van der Zee AG.

Br J Cancer. 1999 Apr;79(11-12):1761-4.

PMID:

10206289

You could ask about using ovarian suppression to lower estradiol levels and reduce the cysts:

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 1999 May;55(2):119-25.

Successful co-treatment with LHRH-agonist for ovarian over-stimulation and cystic formation in premenopausal tamoxifen exposure.

Cohen I1, Tepper R, Figer A, Flex D, Shapira J, Beyth Y.

P.S. Don’t be fooled. If Tamoxifen makes a woman’s periods stop, it does NOT necessarily mean she is in menopause. They have to check E2 and FSH levels with a blood test.

illimae

I’m on Tamoxifen and have ovarian cysts, no pain with mine, just follow up with ultrasound every six months. Hopefully, it’s just one of the non-cancerous things we deal with too.

jmute

Just got back from the GYN at the local hospital other than the fact that she gave us good news on the cysts, largest 1 was 2.7 cm, they were all simple cysts....she didn’t have a clue about the side effects of Tamoxifen. I had to tell her about the studies of 60-80% of premenopausal women developing ovarian cysts from Tamoxifen and also had to tell her pelvic pain/pressure is a symptom of Tamoxifen. She told us at the appointment that she wasn’t aware of those symptoms and would call us back later in the day. She calls back and says she couldn’t find anything on those symptoms and Tamoxifen....she probably needs to read this board.

My wife will probably end up calling her Nurse at OSU The James if the symptoms don’t decrease in the next few days. As of now we know the cysts are simple, not suspected of cancer, she doesn’t have a ruptured appendix, pancreatitis, and her uterus lining is normal.

illimae

Yay 😀 So great when it’s not cancer!

SummerAngel

It's ridiculous how many doctors don't know about this common side effect in premenopausal women! Take a look at my post here, there are a few links to studies about the subject: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/78/topics/859646?page=2#post_5133491