recurrence of ganglion cysts following re-excision

Background: the recurrence of ganglion cysts after surgical excision has a reported rate of 4% to 40%. recurrence rateafter revision surgical excision is unknown. the purpose of this study was to define the incidence of recurrent ganglion cystsin patients who underwent a secondary excision procedure.methods: with institutional review board approval, we retrospectively identified by cpt code and reviewed charts ofpatients who had recurrent ganglion cyst excision performed over a five-year period (2010 – 2014). recurrence was definedas reappearance of a cyst in the same area as it was previously. demographic information including recurrences andrevision surgeries was collected in addition to outcome variables such as patient satisfaction, pain levels, and functionallimitations.results: out of the 42 revision cases identified 20 patients were reached. mean time to recurrence of the cyst after the firstganglion cyst excision was 2.5 years (range: 1 month - 12 years). after the second ganglion cyst excision, three patients(15%) had a recurrence, each occurring within one year (mean: 11 months; range: 9-12). one of the three patients underwenta third successful ganglion cyst excision. the other two patients declined surgical intervention to date. patients without asecond recurrence (n=17) reported an average pain score of 0.1 (range: 0-2) on a scale of 1-10. three (18%) reported somedifficulty with day-to-day activities due to their scar. seven (41%) patients reported at least transient numbness or tingling.mean satisfaction was 9.8 on a scale of 1-10, and 100% reported that they would undergo another ganglion cyst excisionshould they ever have another recurrence.conclusion: patients should be advised about the risk of recurrence after re-excision of ganglion cysts, which was notedto be 15% in our cohort. this rate of recurrence is similar to that of primarily excised cysts.