Table of Contents
Definition / general | Epidemiology | Sites | Clinical features | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) imagesCite this page: Cystic ultimobranchial body remnants. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/thyroidcysticultimobranchial.html. Accessed April 19th, 2018.
Definition / general
- Branchial pouch cysts located near thyroid may actually be cystic ultimobranchial body remnants
- See also solid cell nests (solid ultimobranchial body remnants), lymphoepithelial cyst
Epidemiology
- Very common in neonates
Sites
- Usually soft tissue of neck near thyroid, occasionally within thyroid
Clinical features
- Study of 11 cases of solid nest cells argues that SCN are derived from ultimobranchial body (Am J Clin Pathol 1994;101:186)
- Ultimobranchial body cells have nuclei resembling papillary carcinoma (enlarged, oval, contain finely dispersed chromatin, Arch Pathol Lab Med 1990;114:1049)
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Cysts lined by flattened multilayered epithelium of squamous cells, occasionally ciliated columnar epithelium
- May contain dense eosinophilic material in lumen
- May be adjacent to solid cell nests; variable lymphocytes and rare pancreatic tissue