Conclusion
We report the first systematic review on the diagnosis and management of
ECT in children. ECT is a benign and relatively rare condition. We
identified 192 paediatric cases in the last 20 years. However, in the
vast majority of these, an ECT was rarely considered in the
pre-operative differential diagnoses. General Paediatric and ENT
surgeons should always include this lesion in the differential diagnosis
of neck lesions children as surgical intervention might not be
appropriate in a small solid lesion as this could be the only functional
thymic tissue and potentially involute over time. USS should be the
initial investigation of choice but in clinically ambiguous cases, an
MRI scan and/or FNA should be performed before planning appropriate
surgical intervention.