Congenital cystic neck mass of thymic origin.

Neck masses are frequently seen in children. The differential diagnosis includes infectious, congenital and neoplastic lesions. We report a case of rare thymic neck mass in a boy in his middle childhood presented with a history of a left anterolateral neck mass not associated with fever, dysphagia or shortness of breath. The radiographic evaluation showed a picture of a thymopharyngeal duct cyst. Thymic remnant and thymopharyngeal duct cyst are caused by the failure of obliteration and might appear as a lateral neck mass in children. The most effective treatment for a thymopharyngeal duct cyst is total surgical excision. This particular case highlights the importance for clinicians to have a high index of suspicion for a broad differential diagnosis when evaluating paediatric patients who present with neck mass. Additionally, we emphasise the importance of consistently considering thymopharyngeal cyst as differential diagnosis. © BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Citation

Zohour Awadh Almalki, Hussain Alsheef, Farah Salman Alnemari, Sarah Owaidh Aljuaid. Congenital cystic neck mass of thymic origin. BMJ case reports. 2024 May 08;17(5)

Mesh Tags

PMID: 38719243

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