Congenital retropharyngeal goiter in a newborn as a magnetic resonance imaging finding

Differential diagnosis of cervical masses in newborns include thyroglossal cysts, cystic hygroma, branchial arch cysts. They rarely consist of thymic masses, teratomas and neuroblastoma.(1-5) Most often, the newborn presents with visible mass and breathing and swallowing, difficulties. Neonatal goiter is a rare cause of neck mass in which the diagnosis can be often made on clinical grounds and imaging modalities.(6) Diffuse goiter in the newborn may be caused by maternal Grave's disease, dyshormonogenesis, or goitrogenic drugs.' There has been a growing interest in the goitrogenic stimulus in pregnancy in relation to iodine deficiency and the effects on the newborn.(8) In this report we present a newborn with congenital goiter which was discovered as an accidental finding during cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. The MRI scan was performed to search for neurological damage following hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.