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Surgical excision with pathocytological examination revealed an exceptional diagnosis of haemorrhage in an ectopic cervical thymic cyst. Thymic cysts are a rare cause of unilateral masses in the neck, usually presenting as an asymptomatic, painless, slow-growing or stable mass anywhere along the thymopharyngeal duct. Spontaneous haemorrhages in thymic tissue can occur, often due to coagulation defects. Treatment of symptomatic thymic cysts is based on surgical excision. Partial resection of the thymus should be encouraged if possible, since clinical consequences of removing all thymic tissue in children are still unclear.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/bcr-2018-228807","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,18]],"date-time":"2019-09-18T06:55:14Z","timestamp":1568789714000},"page":"e228807","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Challenges in diagnosing ectopic thymus tissue in children"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Laura","family":"Claes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Paediatrics, Antwerp University Hospital, University of Antwerp, Edegem, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Am\u00e9lie","family":"Dendooven","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Antwerp University Hospital, University of Antwerp, Edegem, 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