Familial Occurrence of Thyroglossal Duct Cyst

Thyroglossal duct cysts are one of the commonest benign midline neck swellings. These are the remnants of the embryologic duct that fails to regress by the 10th week of fetal development. Generally, these are sporadic, slowly enlarging midline neck lumps, with half of them presenting before the age of 30. However, despite their relative frequency, reports of familial inheritance are rare. A review of literature reveals a total of 25 patients from 8 families showing a familial inheritance pattern worldwide. We describe here a 9th family with 5 affected patients taking the total number of cases to 30. Also, this is the 1st such reported case of familial inheritance of thyroglossal cyst from the Asian continent.