Heterotopic cervical salivary glands.

A four-year-old girl presented with bilaterally symmetrical cutaneous orifices situated at the junction of the middle and lower thirds of the sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle. The preoperative diagnosis was lateral cervical, or branchial, sinuses. At operation the sinus tracts were found to extend only 2 cm. deep to the skin surface, and histological examination revealed mixed salivary glands. The literature is reviewed and the differential diagnosis of sinus orifices in the lower, anterior part of the neck is discussed.