Aberrant salivary gland tissue as a differential diagnosis of branchiogenic cysts: case report

A neck fistula next to the sternocleidomastoid muscle is suspicious of a br anchial origin. Here we report on a 29-year-old patient with a discharging cutaneous orific e caused by an ectopic salivary gland. The clinical and histological findin gs are demonstrated and discussed with reference to the literature. Surgical removal of ectopic salivary gland tissue is the treatment of choic e. However, surgery is limited in extent compared to surgical removal of a branchial fistula. Our case demonstrates that an ectopic salivary gland sho uld be considered in the differential diagnosis of a branchial fistula.