[Supra and infra hyoid midline cervical cysts or hyoglossal abnormalies: a propos of 45 cases].

OBJECTIVES

To specify the embryologic origin of the sus and sub hyoidal midline cervical cysts after studying a series of 45 patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

45 files were analyzed retrospectively between 1983 and 2004.

RESULTS

The population concerns 21 women and 24 men with ages going from 3 to 71 years (8 children of less than 10 years). The location of the lesions is supra-hyoidal (12), sub-hyoidal (27), pre-hyoidal (2), basi-lingual (4), a cyst was a fortuitous discovery at the time of a laryngeal surgery. All these patients were operated by external way with resection of the hyoid bone in 40 cases. The histological examination made it possible to differenciate 18 cysts associated with thyroid vesicules, 24 granulomatous cysts, 1 mucoid cyst, 1 epidermidal cyst and 1 ectopic thyroid. Four observations are more precisely detailed.

CONCLUSION

In spite of the strong proportion of cysts of the thyroglossal tract there is different types of cysts evoking a median dysraphy. Rather than speaking about thyroglossal anomalies, the authors propose to call them hyo-glossal anomalies because these lesions are always involving the hyoid bone. The situation of thyroid gland must always be located before surgery, clinically, by echography or scintigraphy. The surgical technique must remove the hyoid bone in monobloc while going up until the contact of the base of the tongue.