Patient-specific factors for differential diagnostic differentiation between Branchial Cleft Cysts and CUP Syndrome: A 10-year unicenter study

Introduction Due to the usually poor prognosis and diverse clinical presentation, cervical CUP syndrome presents special challenges for clinical and imaging diagnosis. Differential diagnosis to CUP syndrome may include lateral cervical cysts. According to the literature, when a benign neck cyst is initially suspected, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is present in approximately 11-21% of patients. The differential diagnostic risk factors to differentiate between a CUP syndrome and lateral neck cysts will be investigated in our study to possibly improve the prognosis.