Cyst on Throat

February 27, 2004

My relative just had a baby girl. She is 5 days old. We found a dimple on her throat. My mom realized it was the same thing as my brother had when he was a baby and it turned out to be a cyst and he had to have surgery before he was a month old. My mom was told that if they hadn't caught it he might have died and they would have probably chalked it up to be SIDS.

February 28, 2004

If this represented airway obstruction, it could conceivably cause problems. However, such babies would usually have symptoms prior to death (loud breathing), and it would be detected on autopsy.
---Tom Keens, MD
tkeens@chla.usc.edu

March 1, 2004

There are some congenital or developmental abnormalities affecting the throat or vocal cord areas, including cysts. They can be associated with some obstruction to breathing air in, and this can be associated with increased noise of breathing, called stridor. Once recognized, they do need to be evaluated and, if necessary, treated before acute upper airway obstructive problems develop. These should not be confused with SIDS since these problems are typically diagnosed and successfully treated as needed. Also, any significant cysts or other throat abnormalities not previously diagnosed would be seen at autopsy. I hope these comments are helpful.

Dr. Hunt
huntc@nhlbi.nih.gov

March 4, 2004

I would have to know what kind of cyst this was in order to comment. Several kinds of cysts have been identified either clinically, or sadly, sometimes only at postmortem exam. In my experience, nearly all are benign, but may act "malignantly" given their location, that is, cause sudden unexpected death.

Henry F. Krous, MD
hkrous@health.ucsd.edu