[Branchial carcinoma]

The Authors report three cases of epidermoidal carcinoma arising from a congenital cyst of the anterolateral region of the neck. This type of tumor, rarely found in daily practice, arises from a degenerate branchial tissue and differential diagnosis often includes nodal involvement from systemic neoplasias. However, diagnostic criteria of such diseases are well defined; furthermore the rarity of branchial carcinoma is opposed to the high frequency of metastatic lymph nodes deriving from tumors with similar histological aspects located in other sites which could alter the real percentage of branchial tumor manifestation.