title: Clinical management of cervical ectopic thymus in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cervical ectopic thymus (CET) is an extremely uncommon etiology of a neck mass in an infant. The aim of this study was to study and analyze the clinical manifestations, management principles, and pathological diagnosis of CET.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 1995 to 2010, a total of 25,237 cases of head and neck lesions were treated in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital. Among these huge numbers of lesions, there were only 3 cases of pathological-diagnosed CET presenting as neck masses. These 3 rare cases were interesting, and here, we report their clinical management and pathological diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three patients had a pathological diagnosis of CET. Their ages ranged from 4 months to 4 years. Clinically, all 3 patients presented with a painless neck mass and received surgical resection. Pathological diagnoses are based on hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical staining.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Painless swelling or neck mass is the major complaint for CET. Radiologic imaging can help determine the extent of the mass and relationship with adjacent structures. Surgery with frozen section remains the main method for pathological diagnosis and management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Gansu Province Tumor hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Honghai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Huawei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lizhen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D002828:Choristoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009333:Neck / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D013950:Thymus Gland