Aberrant cervical thymus. A rare cause of acute respiratory distress.

Aberrant thymic tissue in the neck is a rare occurrence and has not been implicated as a cause of acute respiratory distress. We report a case in which a 6-week-old infant suffered on acute respiratory arrest, was successfully resuscitated, and had an uneventful recovery. At 3 months of age, a large congenital cervical mass was excised. Pathologic diagnosis was aberrant thymus. There is a retrospective correlation between the respiratory arrest and the cervical mass.