[Branchial carcinoma in material from a neck cyst]

The neck cysts are the most common congenital malformation in the head and neck area. In these cases the diagnosis is established on clinical examination, the results of USG and the aspiration biopsy. The problem of malignancy was very rare, but nowadays there is much more in literature about these. The criteria of cancer diagnosis in the neck cysts metaplasia of ephitelium are mentioned. In the ENT Department in Warsaw between September 1989 until December 1994 were treated 29 patients with the neck cyst. Four of them had diagnosed as cancer in histopathological examination. Improvement of some non-invasive technique let us to use them more extensive, especially USG. The examination can be repeated many times, especially in cases when the primary neck tumor was treated using conservative methods.