Infant airway obstruction: An aberrant retro-parapharyngeal thymus

A 16-day-old baby presented noisy breathing, stridor at feeding, dyspnea and desaturations. MRI examination showed the presence of a left retro-parapharyngeal mass that surrounded the carotid artery and jugular vein. From ultrasonography, a tentative diagnosis of normal thymic tissue was obtained. An endoscopic excision of the retropharyngeal component successfully relieved the airway obstruction. Microscopic examination confirmed the diagnosis of normal ectopic thymus. Three months after surgery, no evolution in size or vascular compression was found on a post operative MRI of the residual parapharyngeal tissue. Ultrasonography proved to be very useful in the management of this rare solid lesion.