Chondrocutaneous Branchial Remnants or Cartilaginous Choristoma: Terminology, Biological Behavior and Salience of Bilateral Cervical Lesions Kondrokutanöz Brankial Artıklar veya Kartilajinöz Koristomlar: Terminoloji, Biyolojik Davranış ve Dikkat Çeken Bilateral Servikal Lezyonlar

The presence of heterotopic cartilage under the skin in the head and neck region constitutes a cartilaginous choristoma. Theoretically the choristomas can be of different types such as heterotopic presence of thyroid gland, bone, glial tissue and salivary gland, etc. The common theme shared by different choristomas is that these are very slow growing and benign. The excision is generally done either for cosmetic purposes or to rule out any possibility of malignancy (1). external cartilaginous choristomas in the head and neck region are now named chondrocutaneous branchial remnants or accessory pinna with the implication that all these lesions are remnants of one of the branchial arches. However, the similar heterotopic cartilage in the mouth, tonsillar region or pharynx is named cartilaginous choristoma even though the biological behavior and histopathological features of all these lesions regardless of the site are identical to the heterotopic presence of mature cartilage covered by overlying skin or mucosa (2). We present 5 cases of chondrocutaneous branchial remnants/ accessory pinna/ tragus or cartilaginous choristoma located in the neck and cheek.