A Rare Case of Multiloculated Cervical Thymic Cyst Masquerading as Tuberculous Adenitis

Cervical thymic cysts are among the rarest cysts found in the neck. They usually occur during infancy and childhood, and they are extremely rare in adults. They may be found at any level of the pathway of normal thymic descent, from the angle of the mandible to the superior mediastinum. Being uncommon, they are rarely included in the clinical diagnosis of lateral neck masses and are commonly misdiagnosed as branchial cysts, lymphatic malformations, epidermoid cysts, dermoid cysts, lymphadenitis or neoplastic masses. The diagnosis of cervical thymic cyst is rarely made preoperatively and histopathological examination of the excised specimen is the only definitive means of diagnosis in a majority of the reported cases. We report the clinical presentation and therapeutic management of a rare case of multiloculated cervical thymic cyst in a 24-year-old adult which masqueraded as a tuberculous lympadenitis along with a review of literature.