Sonography of Congenital Neck Masses in Children

Congenital neck masses in children are a relatively frequent finding. To the clinicians, they may pose various diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas and high-resolution sonography is therefore a method of choice. Differential diagnosis of paediatric congenital neck masses primarily includes the presence of hemangioma, lymphangioma, thyreoglossal and branchial cleft cysts. The aim of this paper is to examine the ability of echosonography in differential diagnosis of various congenital neck masses in children and to determine the efficacy and significance of echosonography in preoperative patient preparation. Patients and methods: The investigation enrolled 53 paediatric patients with palpable masses in the neck, who have been examined by high-resolution sonography and color doppler sonography before surgical treatment. CT and MRI, as intra-operative and histopathological findings, confirmed echosonographic diagnosis. Results: Our experience showed that sonography is a sensitive method in differential diagnosis of congenital neck masses in children. Conclusion: We recommend this method as an accurate, cost-effective, noninvasive imaging modality in the preoperative evaluation.