[Infected median and lateral neck cysts and fistulas]

During the last 10 years, 50 patients with congenital anomalies of the neck were treated in the Hospital for Oral and Plastic Surgery in Düsseldorf. Acute or chronic infection was observed in one third of the median and lateral cervical cysts and all cervical fistulas. Most of the cysts and fistulas were not diagnosed or considered in the differential diagnosis at the time of referral. The most frequent false diagnoses were: odontogenous abcess, odontogenous fistula, phlegmon of the floor of the mouth, specific lymphoma, abcess of the lymph node.