Ultrasound Evaluation for Assessing Non-Thyroid Neck Masses

Abstract

Neck masses are common findings that present in all age groups and have many causes, rang-ing from congenital to acquired, from cysts, inflammatory, infective to neoplastic disease, and encompassing any neck structure. Ultrasound (US) is the most common and first-step imaging method for evaluating neck masses in clinical practice. The advantages of US over other imaging techniques are its price and low patient burden. Although US is used ex-tensively to evaluate the thyroid and parathyroid pathology, it is useful for evaluating all masses within the head and neck, particularly the lymph nodes. US can be used to character-ize a neck mass under a real-time assessment, to guide percutaneous tissue sampling, and search for additional masses. Furthermore, US is the only imaging technique available that can be used for frequent routine follow-ups.