Case Report
Idiopathic bilateral jugular phlebectasia in a 9-year-old boy

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Abstract

A nine-year-old boy came to our clinic for the appearance of a voluminous swelling at the base of the neck in the jugular area after coughing. He underwent fibroscopy and a contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) scan, which did not indicate pathological findings even during the Valsalva maneuvre. After a color-Doppler ultrasound of the epiaortic vessels was obtained, a diagnosis of idiopathic phlebectasia of the internal jugular veins was made. The cause of the jugular phlebectasia remains unclear, and no treatment is indicated for this rare, benign, and self-limiting condition.

Introduction

Internal jugular vein phlebectasia is a rare condition in children, presenting as unilateral tender neck swelling, mostly affecting the right side, which manifests upon coughing or performing the Valsalva maneuvre. The etiology is not clear and is believed to be due to congenital factors or trauma. A differential diagnosis consists of laryngocele, branchial cysts, hemangiomas, or cystic hygromas.

Section snippets

Case presentation

A nine-year-old boy came to our clinic for the appearance of a swelling at the base of the neck following coughing episodes (Fig. 1 and Video 1). The patient complained of dry cough only during the day for about one month. The cough was treated with beclomethasone inhalation and oral administration of prednisone, but no clinical improvement was observed. The child had never experienced fever or dyspnea. In view of the disappearance of the cough during sleeping hours, the suspicion of a possible

Discussion

The cause of the jugular vein phlebectasia remains unclear, and no treatment is indicated for this rare, benign, and self-limiting condition.

When the internal jugular vein is involved, it presents as a cervical swelling that can mimic the signs of either a pharyngocele or laryngocele, and because of its rarity, phlebectasia is frequently misdiagnosed [1,2]. The bilateral form is even more rare. Neck ultrasonography with color-Doppler is the gold standard for diagnosis and follow-up, thus

Declaration of competing interest

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    No grant was received for this study.

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    Conflict of Interest: none. All Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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    Ethical approval: all procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional and National Research Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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    Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants (children's parents) included in the study.

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    The manuscript

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