Saccular cyst with atypical presentation.

UNLABELLED: Respiratory obstruction and stridor in infants and children are not uncommon. A rare cause of these sometimes life-threatening symptoms is the congenital saccular cyst.

OBJECTIVES: We present the case of a 5-year-old girl with a cervical tumor, which appeared after a laryngeal endoscopic surgery of a saccular cyst with two relapses and a particular local evolution of its recurrence through the cricothyroid membrane.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: The patient data has been reviewed over the entire follow-up period and a thorough an analysis of her investigations and surgery was performed.

RESULTS: The unusual evolution of this case was marked by an atypical exteriorization - not found in the published literature. The surgical approach was external, by paramedian thyrotomy, with no further long-term recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS: An accurate diagnosis of saccular cysts can be made with the help of medical history, by an endoscopic visualization of the lesion and by the CT-scan imaging of the cervical region. Sometimes, saccular cysts can extend beyond laryngeal limits, determining fluid-filled tumors in the cervical region.