A 59-year-old woman presented to her general practitioner with a lump in the left neck. She was a non-smoker, non-daily drinker and had no significant past medical history. Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) was performed and led to the diagnosis of a branchial cleft cyst. The mass collapsed after aspiration and the patient was managed conservatively by observation. In the year after diagnosi...

One-third of schwannomas occur in head and neck region, mostly in the parapharyngeal region. Cystic change is seen in only 4% of schwannomas. The diagnosis of such tumors remains a challenge due to the rarity of these lesions and limited utility of fine needle aspiration cytology. When cystic, branchial cleft cyst is an important differential diagnosis more so due to radiological resemblance. W...