Papillary carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst: case report and discussion of management modalities

A case of papillary carcinoma arising in the wall of a thyroglossal duct cyst is described. These cancers are very rare and rather adult-specific. Preoperative diagnosis may be enhanced using fine-needle aspiration cytology and computing tomography findings. The standard treatment of thyroglossal duct cyst carcinoma is the sistrunk procedure. The concept of prognostic risk groups should be used to identify patients who would additionally undergo total thyroidectomy.