[Tonsillectomy as a routine treatment in cases of branchiogenic cancer]

The pathogenesis of the branchiogenic cancer is still unknown. A number of authors think that it is a metastasis in the form of a cyst from a primary focus in the pharynx most often located in the palatal tonsil. Hence a conclusion is put forward to perform a tonsillectomy even when a tonsil is not clinically changed. The author presents a medical record of a patient with plano-epithelial carcinoma of a cyst from a primary focus in the pharynx most often located in the palatal tonsil. Hence a conclusion is put forward to perform a tonsillectomy even when a tonsil is not clinically changed. The author presents a medical record of a patient with plano-epithelial carcinoma of a lateral cervical cyst. It developed in the epithelium, sub-epithelium and in the palatal tonsil. The tonsillectomy was performed in spite of the clinically unchanged. This case indicates that cancer can develop simultaneously in the cyst wall and in the tonsil. The presence of the wall architecture elements typical of a lateral cervical cyst and the duct connecting the cyst with the wall of the pharynx indicates that it wasn't a metastasis from the focus in tha tonsil. The development of both these focuses could have resulted from the spreading of a lesion through continuity in the ascending way (a cyst-a tonsil) or through the descending way (a tonsil-a cyst). The author suggests that a branchiogenic cancer is an indication for a routine prophylactic ipsilateral tonsillectomy and neck dissection together with consecutive irradiation.