# Ganglion cyst

- Category: chronic
- Review status: reviewed (every claim checked against a document named on this page)
- Sources: Ganglion Cyst - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf (NBK470168) - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470168/ · ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class LD72.09 - condition scope only, no dose · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
- Verified date: 2026-08

## Verified against

- No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care

## Treatment metadata

- No drug therapy in primary care (Referral & Advice)

## Complete treatment card

```text
GANGLION CYST
Sources: Ganglion Cyst - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf (NBK470168) -
         https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470168/ · ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification
         of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class LD72.09 - condition scope only, no dose · No dose -
         referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
Review status: REVIEWED against the source listed above  (2026-08)

IS IT THIS? - reference only, to read alongside your own examination
  SYMPTOMS - what the patient reports (3)
    - Most ganglion cysts cause no symptoms; some patients seek care mainly for the cosmetic
      appearance  [cyst]
    - Pain, tenderness, or weakness that worsens with wrist movement can occur
    - A volar wrist cyst can compress the median nerve causing carpal tunnel symptoms or trigger
      finger, or affect the ulnar nerve or radial artery  [cyst]
  SIGNS - what you find (2)
    - On exam it is a firm, mobile, well-defined mass roughly 1 to 3 cm, tethered to deep tissue but
      not the skin  [skin nodule]
    - The mass typically transilluminates when a light is shone through it
  TESTS (3)
    - X-rays are sometimes ordered to exclude bone involvement but usually show nothing abnormal
    - MRI is reserved for concern of a solid tumor, showing a well-defined mass with uniform fluid
      signal on T2 sequences
    - Ultrasound distinguishes it from a vascular malformation and helps avoid puncturing the radial
      artery during needle aspiration
  IF NOT THIS - what else fits (9)
    - Aneurysmal bone cyst
    - Chondroblastoma
    - Chondromyxoid fibroma
    - Enchondroma
    - Giant cell tumor of bone
    - Nonossifying fibroma
    - Osteoid osteoma
    - Osteoblastoma
    - Simple bone cyst
  Source  StatPearls "Ganglion Cyst" - disease-level clinical article
  Status  traced to the source above

1. NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (REFERRAL & ADVICE)    [1st line]
   Adult    A benign, fluid-filled swelling arising from a tendon sheath, ligament, or joint
            capsule, most often at the wrist; many resolve spontaneously, and aspiration or surgical
            excision is done if symptomatic or cosmetically bothersome — analgesia is only for
            associated discomfort. - Refer, with advice
   Peds     Children follow the same pathway: recognise and refer. No primary-care medicine is
            implied.
   Source   No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
   Why      A benign, fluid-filled swelling arising from a tendon sheath, ligament, or joint
            capsule, most often at the wrist; many resolve spontaneously, and aspiration or surgical
            excision is done if symptomatic or cosmetically bothersome — analgesia is only for
            associated discomfort.
   Caution  Rapid growth, pain out of proportion to the lesion, or signs of nerve/vessel compression
            — distinguish from other soft tissue masses before assuming it is a simple ganglion.
            No medicine is prescribed for this in primary care - this entry is for recognition and
            referral. Anything given is decided by the service it is referred to.

Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy.
```

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