lateral thyroid ectopia

we report here a rare case of lateral ectopia of thyroid without orthotopic thyroid tissue in an indian teenager, who was referred to our department for a thyroid scintigraphy. technetium pertechnetate (99mtco4- ) scan showed uptake in laterally placed soft tissue structure along with functioning thyroid tissue in high anterior midline neck region in line with thyroglossal tract. there is no uptake in the normal anatomical thyroid bed region. ultrasound study of the neck confirmed a soft tissue structure on the right of midline appearing coarse in echotexture with internal vascularity and absent native thyroid gland. ectopic thyroid tissue lateral to midline associated with thyroglossal tract remnant and absence of orthotopic thyroid tissue is known to be very rare.