Wolf in sheep’s clothing-ectopic papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract EN

Ectopic thyroid tissue occurs in about 1 in 10,000 people.

It can be seen anywhere from foramen caecum to lower neck region.

But, it is rarely seen in a lateral neck mass, especially in branchial cleft cyst.

Transformation to a malignant state in an ectopic thyroid tissue is uncommon, with most of the diagnoses found routinely through the post-operative histopathological analysis.

Hereby, we report a rare case of an ectopic papillary thyroid carcinoma with an initial pre-operative diagnosis of a branchial cleft cyst.

However, no primary thyroid gland malignancy was found.

The pathophysiology and rarity of these disorders are explored.

A high index of suspicion of ectopic tissue and malignancy must be in mind while attending to patients with long-standing, uninvestigated lateral neck masses.

Excision biopsy and histopathological study are the two definitive steps to be undertaken