Neck masses: diagnostic analysis of 630 cases in Turkish population

Abstract

Neck masses can be classified into three main categories: congenital, inflammatory and neoplastic. Our aim was to determine the distribution of diagnosis in patients who were followed-up for a neck mass and had undergone surgery for diagnostic indications. Six hundred and thirty cases referred to the Otorhinolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery Department of Haseki Research and Training Hospital between January 2005 and February 2012 with a neck mass who underwent excisional or incisional biopsy to establish a histopathologic diagnosis were retrospectively evaluated. Patients with a diagnosis of upper aerodigestive tract malignancy were excluded from the study. As well as the patients with thyroid masses were excluded. Only unknown primary neck masses were included in the study. The neck masses were categorized as inflammatory (33.49 %), congenital (18.9 %) or neoplastic (47.6 %). Neoplastic masses were either benign (51 %) or malignant (49 %) tumors. The most common causes were tuberculous lymphadenitis (40.28 %) among inflammatory masses, thyroglossal duct cysts (32.77 %) among congenital masses, pleomorphic adenoma (22.33 %) among benign neoplastic masses, and lymphoma (20 %) among malignant neoplastic masses. The most common types of mass were congenital in the 0-20 year age group, benign neoplastic in 21-40-year-old and malignant neoplastic in the >40-year group. Any neck mass, especially in an elderly patient, should be managed with caution as a considerable proportion may be malignant. In children and adolescents, a neck mass requiring surgery is most likely to be congenital. Tuberculosis should be considered as a cause of a neck mass due to a long-term inflammatory process in a developing country.

Frequency of Head and Neck Masses in Iranian Children During a 21-Year Period

“…However, in the study by Ayugi (20) and our study, congenital lesions of the neck ranked third with 22% prevalence rate. In two other studies on cervical masses, the frequency of congenital lesions ranged from 12% to 18.9% irrespective of age (21,22). In our study, congenital/developmental lesions were slightly more common in males (1.3:1), and had a lower mean age (5.9 years) than the overall mean age.…”

“…Congenital/developmental lesions had a prevalence of 22.6% and ranked third in terms of prevalence in our study. In two studies conducted in Turkey and China, these le-sions were the most common head and neck lesions with over 50% prevalence rate (14,16).…”

Neck masses in paediatric population: An experience with children attended the Central Teaching Hospital of Pediatrics in Baghdad 2008-2009

“…[ 12 ] In one study done in Turkey and included the assessment of neck masses in 630 patients of all ages, the inflammatory category accounted 33.4%. [ 13 ] Recently Meier and Grimmer (2014) categorized the pediatrics neck masses into three categories: Developmental, inflammatory/reactive, or neoplastic and mentioned that the most common causes of inflammatory/reactive category are reactive lymphadenopathy, infectious lymphadenitis (viral, staphylococcal, and mycobacterial infections; cat-scratch disease), or Kawasaki disease. [ 14 ] The percent of neoplastic category of pediatric neck masses that reported in this study is 12.5% that is similar to that reported by Goins and Beasley (2012) which accounted to 11-15%.…”

Mouth cancer: Extending the RULE

“…In high doses, such abuse has been reported especially in Eastern Europeans (particularly in some Polish, Romanian and Turkish peoples), 2 and in Latin Americans (mainly some Brazilians). 3,4 There are as yet, few data on any other (such as physical) adverse effects.…”

“…1 However, cancer can have other and multifarious presentations and we are also intent on diagnosing any such lesion whether early or more advanced as soon as possible. Other such presentations can include tooth loosening 2 or cervical lymphadenopathy, 3,4 though there can be many other causes for these, so it would seem an improvement to extend the RULE to:…”