A Case of Duplication Cyst in the Cervical Esophagus

Abstract

Duplication cysts are rare congenital anomalies that result from foregut budding errors during embryonic development, and are extremely rare in the cervical esophagus. Furthermore, only a few cases of cervical esophageal cysts have been published in the literature to date. Most cases in adults are discovered incidentally, and there are no published reports of cases of duplication cysts of the cervical esophagus presenting with neck swelling or fever.

We report the case of a 21-year-old woman who presented to our hospital with a history of persistent neck swelling and recurrent fever, and was diagnosed as having a duplication cyst of the cervical esophagus. CT and MRI revealed a cystic mass in the left neck. The cervical esophagus showed a bird’s beak sign, suggesting that the cyst arose from the muscular layer of the esophagus. Additional blood tests, fine needle aspiration of the cyst, and esophagogastroduodenoscopy also failed to yield a definitive diagnosis. Therefore, we resected the mass via cervical esophagotomy, and the lesion was diagnosed postoperatively as a duplication cyst of the cervical esophagus. Thus, the possibility of a duplication cyst of the cervical esophagus should be borne in mind in patients presenting with a neck swelling.