Lateral Aberrant Thyroid: Metastasis to the Lymph Nodes From Primary Carcinoma of the Thyroid Gland

For over fifty years cystic papillary growths of thyroid tissue in the lateral cervical region have been recognized, but the interpretation placed on them has almost uniformly been that they represent embryonically misplaced thyroid tissue. This explanation is implicit in the term in Shrager's1generally accepted nomenclature, "lateral aberrant thyroid." Recently it has been shown clearly by King and Pemberton2that these "lateral aberrant thyroid" masses are in reality metastases from a carcinoma of similar structure in the thyroid gland itself. The following 2 cases recently seen at the Johns Hopkins Hospital confirm the work of King and Pemberton. While 2 cases constitute a small series, they are reported as additional evidence that papillary cystic thyroid tissue in the lateral cervical region is often metastatic from an identical primary tumor in the thyroid. Since the primary tumor may be extremely small. exploration of the thyroid and removal of