ABSTRACT
The existence of primary brancial cleft cyst carcinoma is controversial since first described by Volkmann in 1882. Martin and Khafif proposed criteria for diagnosis of primary branchiogenic carcinoma, which are now widely accepted in the literature. The most important criterion is the presence of squamous cell carcinoma arising from the benign squamous epithelium of branchial cleft cyst. We report a case of a 69-year-old man with branchial cleft cyst carcinoma, which was suspected to be cervical lymph node metastases from an unknown primary tumor. The subject underwent a surgical operation, and postoperative pathologic findings revealed a squamous cell carcinoma developing in the stratified squamous epithelial lining of the branchial cleft cyst. This case meets the criteria established by Martin and Khafif, thus we present it with a review of literature.