What Causes Thornwaldt Cyst

Tornwaldt cyst or Thornwaldt cyst or Nasopharyngeal cyst represents the remnant of notochord. It is usually small and accidentally diagnosed on MRI. Large sized cyst may presents with nasal, ear or cervical symptoms. Recurrent nasopharyngeal infection and trauma are common etiological factor.

How is a Thornwaldt cyst treated?

When the lesion is large, symptomatic or close to the Eustachian tube torus, surgery by marsupialization is the treatment option. For small lesions, the endonasal approach is recommended but for large lesions, a transoral retrovelar approach using a 70 degree telescope is the method of choice.

How rare is a Thornwaldt cyst?

Introduction. Tornwaldt cyst (TC) is a relatively rare but benign disease. It is a developmental lesion within the midline of the nasopharynx [1]. An incidence of 1.4–3.3% was reported by some authors in the literature [2,3].