Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: An abnormally positioned thymus may either be aberrant or ectopic. Aberrant cervical thymus (ACT) is located along the normal pathway of descent of the thymus, with an attachment to mediastinal thymus via thymic tissue or fibrous cord in 50% of the cases. ACT is usually diagnosed within the first and second decade of life, and most lesions are cystic.

Case report: We report a case of 9-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for the operation of thyroid nodule. He did not have any neurological symptoms. During the ultrasonographic evaluation for thyroid thyroid, an incidental solid mass was found, which was located at the lower pole of the left thyroid, without remarkable interface echo to the thyroid parenchyma. Computed tomography (CT) showed a mass located at the lower pole of the left thyroid too. On the surgical field, the mass was found under the left thyroid. The mass was a yellowish soft mass. The mass was confirmed as the thymic tissue without any cystic component.

Conclusion: Its very important to recognize an aberrant cervical thymus as a differential diagnosis of paediatric neck masses, such as cervical lymphadenopathy, branchial anomalies, vascular malformations, inflammatory lesions and neoplasm. Ultrasound and CT scan can help to establish the etiological diagnosis.