Lingual bronchogenic cyst in a child: an unusual site of presentation

We describe a 4-year-old hispanic male with a bronchogenic cyst (BC) in the base of the tongue. To our knowledge, a BC has not been previously reported in the oral cavity. BC is a developmental anomaly believed to originate from abnormal detachments of accessory lung buds from the ventral foregut. We postulate that the unusual location of the BC in the present case is related to the primitive foregut origin of tongue epithelium posterior to the foramen cecum and the sulcus terminalis. A BC in the base of the tongue appears to represent the most proximal expression of aberrant accessory lung bud detachment from the primitive foregut.