title: Clinicopathological evaluation of thyroglossal cyst.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thyroglossal cyst is a common congenital anomaly of the thyroid gland. Though malignant transformation is rare one case was a papillary carcinoma in my series.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospectively thyroglossal cyst who underwent surgery during the period of January 2004 to March 2009 were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age incidence of the cysts in the present series varied between 4 and 41 years. 12 (63%) patients were male and 7 (37%) patients were female. The sites of the lesion were as:thyrohyoid in 13 (68%),suprasternal in 1 (5%) and suprahyoid in 5 (27%) cases. Twelve patients had painless swelling on the neck and 7 had discharging sinus.Pre-operative cytological evaluation showed non-malignancy in all cases.Postoperative histological result turned out to be papillary carcinoma in 1 female patient of 33 years old and the remaining 18 had non-malignancy. This patient with papillary carcinoma had her thyroid gland in its normal position.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Malignant transformation should be ruled out in all cases of thyroglossal cyst and fistula. Post-operatively specimen should be sent for histological examination.
authors.affiliation: Department of ENT, Bharatpur Hospital Chitwan, Nepal.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Paudel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013955:Thyroglossal Cyst / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult