MYOSITIS-OSSIFICANS TRAUMATICA OF STERNOCLEIDOMASTOID MUSCLE PRESENTING AS CERVICAL LYMPH-NODE METASTASIS

It is well known that clinical assessment of the metastatic status of the cervical lymph nodes in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of t he upper aerodigestive tract is frequently inaccurate, and several cau ses for false-positive assessments are well described. We report a nov el cause, namely, a case of myositis ossificans traumatica of the ster nocleidomastoid muscle, which presented as a neck mass after a direct laryngoscopy for biopsy of a laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The im portance of this lesion is that it should be considered in the clinica l differential diagnosis of swellings in the neck.