Main Features and Treatments of Cervical Cysts in Children from a Single-center Experience

Purpose To summarize the main features of various types of cervical cysts in order to refine current diagnosis and treatment. Methods To retrospectively analyze the clinical data of patients admitted with cervical cyst. Analysis focuses on the clinical presentation, medical imaging, surgical approach, treatment-related complications as well as disease recurrence. Results The main self-reported symptom at first admission is painless masses at neck and submandibular space. 384 patients received cervical ultrasound examination whereas 92 patients were subjected to cervical MRI. The median of cysts size recorded by medical imaging is 1.7cm*1.0cm*1.6cm. With a median time of operation for 55 minutes. The biopsy of removed cysts indicated five main pathological categories including thyroglossal duct cyst, (TGDC), branchial cleft cyst, (BCC), dermoid cyst, (DC), lymphatic malformation (LM) and bronchogenic cyst (BC). The most frequent postsurgical complication is dysphagia and inflammatory wound swelling. Seven patients inflicted with relapses before further treatment. Conclusions Our study showed that ultrasound and MRI are the main modalities for identifying and diagnosing disease. Surgical removal remains the major modality for disease control. Majority of postsurgical complications is attributed to transitional injury of blood vessels or nerves. Recurrence of cysts is commonly associated with TGDC and LM.