Jugulodigastric papillary thyroid cancer lymph node metastasis masquerading as carotid body tumor

Thyroid nodule is the most common presentation of thyroid carcinoma. Considering the indolent course of the disease, indeed, the papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) microcarcinoma puts much debate regarding large-scale cohorts on patient follow-up over several decades to detect differences in aggressiveness and outcome. Lymph node metastases might be the salient manifestation of the disease. The nodal metastases usually appear in the central and to a lesser degree in the lateral neck mostly as a solid nodule and rarely in form of a cystic mass. In this study, we describe a case of lymph node metastasis from thyroid papillary carcinoma that clinically and radiologically mimicked a carotid body tumor and despite all pre-surgical evaluations; papillary thyroid carcinoma was detected in the final histopathology report. We intend to describe the initial clinical evaluation, radiological survey and pathology report.