Thyroglossal duct carcinoma with cervical lymph node metastasis; case report and literature review

Abstract

Thyroglossal duct cysts develop from the persistence of the thyroglossal duct and are rarely accompanied by malignant tumors. We present two cases of thyroglossal duct carcinoma with cervical lymph node metastasis. In case 1, enlarged lymph nodes with cyst formation were found in the left Level Ⅳ lymph node. In case 2, metastatic lesions were found in the right Level Ⅳ lymph node and the superficial neck near the sternal notch. The frequency of lymph node metastasis from thyroglossal duct cancer is relatively high, but the prone site of metastasis is unknown. In past reports, lateral neck metastasis was the most common at 75％. In case 2, lymph node metastasis beyond the range of standard neck dissection was revealed by PET-CT. It is important to comprehensively evaluate metastasis using various imaging inspections.