A Case of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Arising from Branchial Cleft Cyst

Carcinomas arising from the remnant of branchial epitheliuem or branchial cleft cyst are known as branchial carcinoma. Branchial carcinoma is extremely rare. We report a patient with a suspected branchial carcinoma in the left neck. A 70 -year-old men was referred to our hospital with swelling at the left neck. A φ50mm mass was palpable at the anterior margin of the sternocleidomastoid muscle in the left lateral cervical region. The overlying skin was normal, and the mass was elastic hard, immobile, and painless. The contrast CT and MRI findings suggested a clinical diagnosis of cervical cyst since no primary carcinoma was found, metastatic carcinoma of the cervical lynph was not suspected. Surgical excision was performed under a general anesthesia. The cut surfaces showed cystic structure containing yellowish brown fluid. Pathological examination of the resected specimen showed that the mass had a cystic structure, was lined by thin squamous epithelium and contained nests of diffusely infiltrating squamous cell carcinoma. These pathological findings met the characteristics of the branchiogenic carcinoma. The patient was follow up over 3 years, but the recurrence was not found.