Congenital midline cervical cleft: A rare embryo pathogenic disorder

Genç A.; Taneli C.; Arslan O.A.; Daǧlar Z.; Mir E.

Congenital midline cervical cleft: A rare embryo pathogenic disorder

Date

2002

Authors

Abstract

Congenital midline cervical cleft (CMCC) is a rare disorder of the ventral neck. The cleft consists of an epithelium-covered, longitudinal central depression with a protuberance at the cervical end. The adjacent skin is tethered by scar tissue forming a depression, which ends in a blind sinus at the caudal end. Although a variety of embryological mechanisms are proposed, its etiology is obscure. Up to the present time, fewer than 50 cases have been reported in the English literature. CMCC can be seen in association with several midline anomalies related to the branchial arches, including median cleft of the lower lip and mandible, and hypoplasia or absence of other midline neck structures. We present a 36-day-old boy with CMCC to illustrate its clinical presentation and the result at 24 months postoperatively. © Springer-Verlag 2002.