Related Condition Centers

Kirsten Storms, Star of ‘General Hospital,’ Is Recovering From Brain Surgery

She had “a very large cyst that had split into two.”
Kirsten Storms
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

Kirsten Storms, star of General Hospital and the Zenon trilogy, revealed on social media that she is recovering after brain surgery

“I spent the last few years having random health issues that I disregarded as side effects to my medications or just something I was experiencing due to age,” she wrote on Instagram. After experiencing severe neck pain and what she thought were migraines, Storms received an MRI. In the MRI results, her doctor found “a rather large, very full of fluid, cyst that was attached to the lower portion of [my] brain,” Storms said.

She followed up her original post with a video on her Instagram stories clarifying that “what they had to drain and remove was not cancer,” People reported. “I had a very large cyst that had split into two and the doctor said it was so full the pressure was very noticeable when they opened up my skull, sounds so weird.”

A cyst is a fluid-filled sac that, in the brain, may contain the same cerebrospinal fluid that cushions and provides nutrients to the brain, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine explains. Storms doesn't specify exactly what type of brain cyst she had, but the most common type is an arachnoid cyst, which forms in one of the layers of tissue surrounding the brain, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

These cysts don't always cause symptoms, and if they don't, then they may not require any treatment, Johns Hopkins Medicine says. But if a cyst is large, it may put pressure on the brain, which can lead to issues such as nausea, headache, vision problems, excessive fatigue, and seizures. In that case, doctors may treat a brain cyst via surgery or implanting a shunt to encourage the normal flow of fluid.

Luckily, Storms “had a wonderful neurosurgeon who immediately knew how to fix it,” she wrote in the post. "I’m not gonna lie, brain surgery had me nervous, but I’m immensely thankful to my family, friends, and incredible ‘work family’ who have been supportive, kind, and loving during a time when I’ve been feeling a lot of emotions."