Tornwaldt cyst

A Tornwaldt cyst (Latin: Bursa pharyngeal ( lis ) ) (sometimes in the spellings Thornwaldt or Thorwald 's cyst ) is a benign cyst ( a benign, fluid-filled mass ) in the upper posterior nasopharynx ( nose and throat ) is located.

It is usually accidental in computer tomography ( CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI ) of the head diagnosed as located in the midline, well-demarcated rounded mass.

In the Frühembryonalentwicklung the front end of the notochordal is temporarily slipped into the underlying endoderm of the pharynx. If adhesion between the pharynx and the notochord arises, it comes at the return migration of the notochord to the skull base to the dorsal bulge of nasopharyngeal mucosa. The glands secrete contained therein and may result in the context of pharyngitis for closing the located in the midline " diverticulum ". By mucus production may lead to recurrent ruptures and episodes of oral malodor by clearing the infected by anaerobes secretions. The therapy of symptomatic patients is surgery. Asymptomatic the Tornwaldt cyst occurs in 4 % of the population.

Describer of the Gdansk doctor Gustav Ludwig Tornwaldt was ( 1843-1910 ). Title of his monograph published in 1885: On the importance of the pharyngeal bursa for the detection and treatment of certain nasopharyngeal diseases.

Swell