A 32 year old male presented with painless lymph node in the cervical region. Lymph node biopsy shown normal thyroid gland features. But clinically, on palpation, thyroid is normal the diagnosis is

(B) Lateral aberrant thyroid # Clinical features of thyroid neoplasms> Small papillary tumours may be impalpable (occult carcinoma), even when lymphatic metastases are present (so-called lateral aberrant thyroid).> Pain, often referred to the ear, is frequent in infiltrating growths.# Papillary carcinoma> Spread to the lymph nodes is common, but blood-borne metastases are unusual unless the tumor is extrathyroidal.> Term extrathyroidal indicates that the primary tumour has infiltrated through the capsule of the thyroid gland.> Occult carcinoma> Papillary carcinoma may present as an enlarged lymph node in the jugular chain with no palpable abnormality of the thyroid.> Primary tumour may be no more than a few millimetres in size and is termed occult.> Such primary foci of papillary carcinoma may also be discovered in thyroid tissue resected for other reasons, for example Graves disease.> Term 'occult' is often applied to all papillary carcinomas less than 1.5 cm in diameter.> These have an excellent prognosis and are regarded as of little clinical significance.