A 35 year old female presented to our department with complaints of swelling in the neck. Radiological evaluation revealed a thyroglossal duct cyst in the anterior aspect of the neck anterior to the hyoid bone. Biopsy of the lesion was proved to be squamous cell carcinoma of squamous cell carcinoma in thyroglossal duct cyst is very rare and till date about only 14 cases were reported worldwide (1).  Here we present a biopsy proven case of squamous cell carcinoma in a thyroglossal duct cyst.

KEY WORDS: Thyroglossal duct cyst, Squamous cell carcinoma, Sistrunk's operation.    

1.      Iakovou I¹, Konstantinidis I, Doumas A, Nikolaidis V, Karatzas N, Efstratiou I.Hell J Nucl Med.2011 Jan-Apr;14(1):62-4.Squamous cell carcinoma in a thyrogl-ossal duct cyst and 99mTc-MIBI findings

2.      Kristensen S, Juul A, Moesner J. Thyroglossal cyst carcinoma. J Laryngol Otol 1984; 98:1277-1280

3.      LiVolsi VA. Pathology of thyroid disease. In: Falk SA, ed. Thyroid Disease: Endocrinology, Surgery, Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy. 2nd ed. Philiadelphia: Lippincott-Raven; 1997

4.      Kennedy TL, Whitaker M, Wadih G. Thyroglossal duct carcinoma: a rational approach to management. Laryngoscope 1998; 108:1154-1158

5.      Yanagisawa K, Eisen RN, Sasaki CT. Squamous cell carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1992; 118:538-541

6.      Bardales RH, Suhrland MJ, Korourian S, Schaefer RF, Hanna EY, Stanley MW. Cytologic findings in thyroglossal duct carcinoma. Am J Clin Pathol 1996; 106:615-619

7.      Wexler MJ. Surgical management of the thyroglossal duct carcinoma: is an aggressive approach justified? Can J Sur 1996; 39:263-264

8.      Ahuja AT, King AD, King W, Metreweli C. Thyroglossal duct cysts: sonographic appearances in adults. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 1999; 20:579-582

9.      Wadsworth DT, Siegel MJ. Thyroglossal duct cysts: variability of sonographic findings. AJR Am J Radiol 1994; 163:1475-1477

10.  Harnsberger HR. Handbook of Head and Neck Imaging.. 2nd ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 1995: 205-208

11.  Weissman JL. Nonnodal masses of the neck. In: Som PM, Curtin HD, eds. Head and Neck Imaging. 3rd ed. St Louis: Mosby; 1996: 798-802

12.  Reede DL, Whelan MA, Bergeron RT. CT of the soft tissue structures of the neck. Radiol Clin North Am 1984; 22:239-250

13.  Blandino A, Salvi L, Scribano E, Chirico G, Longo M, Pandolfo I. MR findings in thyroglossal duct cysts: report of two cases. Eur J Radiol 1990; 11:207-211

14.  King AD, Ahuja AT, Mok CO, Metreweli C. MR imaging of thyroglossal duct cysts in adults. Clin Radiol 1999; 54:304-308

15.  Som PM, Sacher M, Lanzieri CF, Shugar JMA, Biller HF. Two benign CT presentations of thyroid-related papillary adenocarcinoma. J Comput Assist Tomogr 1985; 9:162-166

16.  Silverman PM, Degesys GE, Ferguson BJ, Bierre AR. Papillary carcinoma in a thyroglossal duct cyst: CT findings. J Comput Assist Tomogr 1985; 9:806-808

17.  Gooding GAW. Sonography of the thyroid and parathyroid. Radiol Clin North Am 1993; 31:967-989.