Case report highlights diagnostic challenges of cystic neck masses in identifying papillary thyroid carcinoma, suggesting careful evaluation of differential diagnoses.
Introduction: Lateral neck cysts are common clinical presentations with broad differential diagnoses including infectious, congenital, and neoplastic processes. 1 Importantly, several malignant conditions may undergo cystic changes and mimic benign cysts both clinically and radiologically. 2 We report an unusual case of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) presenting as a presumed benign neck cyst, with no identifiable primary thyroid lesion.
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Macindoe et al. (2026) studied this question.
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