Bilateral cervical chondrocutaneous remnants: a case report and review of the literature

Cervical chondrocutaneous remnants are less common lesions, which are encountered at the lateral neck. They are similar in appearance to preauricular tags, which are more frequent. Bilateral appearance of this pathology is quite uncommon. The lesions always present at birth, and are located in the middle or lower third of the lateral neck with a significant prevalence of location anterior to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The overlying skin is similar to the surrounding neck skin and the lesion is painless, lacking any inflammation or discharge. Surgically there is no connection with deep underlying structures. The therapy of choice should be complete surgical removal. Several associated anomalies may accompany cervical chondrocutaneous remnants. Thus these patients must be evaluated carefully in order to detect any additional anomaly. We herein report a four-year-old patient with bilateral cervical chondrocutaneous remnant located at the inferior third of the lateral neck anterior to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. We also review the literature for patients with bilateral cervical chondrocutaneous remnants and discuss embryologic and diagnostic aspects.