[Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid in a thyroglossal duct cyst with metastasis to an ipsilateral cervical lymph node]

Abstract

A 22-year-old male presented with a submandibular cystic mass in the ENT Clinic of Berlin-Buch. Histopathology revealed a dystopic papillary carcinoma in a thyroglossal duct cyst. Worldwide only about 150 cases are known. We describe our diagnostic and therapeutic procedures employed and included tumor excision, bilateral neck dissections and total thyroidectomy. No abnormalities in the thyroid gland but a metastatic carcinoma was uncovered in an ipsilateral lymph node in the jugular foramen area. A preoperative (99) Tc-thyroid scan and MRI study had not shown any evidence for a malignant tumor. The therapeutic approach advocated in literature is controversial but the intraoperative findings in our patient supported our decision to choose a relatively radical but not mutilating therapy.