Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jan;7(1):287-289.
doi: 10.3892/etm.2013.1383. Epub 2013 Nov 6.

Giant epidermal cyst in the posterior neck developing over 40 years: A case report

Tae Won Park  1 , Jong Kil Kim  2 , Jung Ryul Kim  3
Affiliations

Giant epidermal cyst in the posterior neck developing over 40 years: A case report

Tae Won Park et al. Exp Ther Med. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

Conventional epidermal cysts are generally small, slow-growing, non-tender, dome-shaped lesions. An epidermal cyst is usually asymptomatic until it is infected or enlarged to the extent that it causes damage to adjacent anatomical structures. However, few cases of giant epidermal cysts in the neck have been reported. The present case reports a giant epidermal cyst in the posterior neck, which grew to an extremely large size for >40 years without inflammation or rupture, and was misdiagnosed as a large soft tissue neoplasm. The patient exhibited depression and developed social anxiety due to the negative cosmetic consequences of the large mass. The patient underwent excision of the mass. At the follow-up examination two years postoperatively, there were no local recurrence and the psychiatric symptoms of the patient were completely resolved. To the best of our knowledge, a giant epidermal cyst growing for >40 years has not previously been reported.

Keywords: cosmetic problem; giant epidermal cyst; posterior neck; psychiatric symptom.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three giant subcutaneous masses in the posterior neck (arrowhead), left upper back (arrow), and left scalp (asterisk).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Sagittal T1-weighted MRI revealed a homogenous low intermediate signal intensity mass, surrounded by a low signal intensity well-marginated capsule in the subcutaneous fat of the posterior neck. (B) Axial T2-weighted MRI images showed an oval mass with high signal intensity and debris with low signal intensity at the surrounding capsule.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mass in the posterior neck was well defined with an elastic texture and contained a cream-colored fluid with a butter-like consistency.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Histopathological examination showed the epidermal cyst wall with a thin layer of benign stratified squamous epithelium and lamellated keratin debris present in the cyst (H&E-stained; original magnification, ×20).
Figure 5
Figure 5
A photograph at the two-year postoperative follow-up showed excellent cosmetic results without recurrence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Polychronidis A, Perente S, Botaitis S, Sivridis E, Simopoulos C. Giant multilocular epidermoid cyst on the left buttock. Dermatol Surg. 2005;31:1323–1324. - PubMed
    1. Kang SG, Kim CH, Cho HK, Park MY, Lee YJ, Cho MK. Two cases of giant epidermal cyst occurring in the neck. Ann Dermatol. 2011;23(Suppl 1):S135–S138. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Golshan Momeni M, Anavim A, Lin F, Tehranzadeh J. Giant epidermal inclusion cyst of buttock. Skeletal Radiol. 2006;35:864–866. - PubMed
    1. Kim C, Park MC, Seo SJ, Yoo YM, Jang YJ, Lee IJ. Giant epidermoid cyst of the posterior neck. J Craniofac Surg. 2011;22:1142–1144. - PubMed
    1. Sau P, Graham JH, Helwig EB. Proliferating epithelial cysts. Clinicopathological analysis of 96 cases. J Cutan Pathol. 1995;22:394–406. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources