Clinicopathological Evaluation of Thyroglossal Cyst

Introduction: Thyroglossal cyst is a common congenital anomaly of the thyroid gland. Though malignant transformation is rare one case was a papillary carcinoma in my series. Methods: Retrospectively thyroglossal cyst who underwent surgery during the period of January 2004 to March 2009 were evaluated. Results: Age incidence of the cysts in the present series varied between 4 and 41 years. 12 (63%) patients were male and 7 (37%) patients were female. The sites of the lesion were as: thyrohyoid in 13 (68%), suprasternal in 1 (5%) and suprahyoid in 5 (27%) cases. Twelve patients had painless swelling on the neck and 7 had discharging sinus. Pre-operative cytological evaluation showed non-malignancy in all cases. Postoperative histological result turned out to be papillary carcinoma in 1 female patient of 33 years old and the remaining 18 had non-malignancy. This patient with papillary carcinoma had her thyroid gland in its normal position. Conclusions: Malignant transformation should be ruled out in all cases of thyroglossal cyst and fistula. Post-operatively specimen should be sent for histological examination.