Malignant "triton" tumor in the thyroid--a case report

Abstract

This report presents a very rare case of a malignant "Triton" tumor developing in the thyroid. Although malignant "Triton" tumors have often been known to develop in cases of neurofibromatosis, Von Recklinghausen's disease, this patient showed no clinical evidence of that disease. Total thyroidectomy including left standard radical neck dissection was followed by postoperative irradiation to the neck. Despite this, local and distant metastases developed four months after treatment and the recurrent foci did not respond to chemotherapy or irradiation. The clinical course of this case mimicked that of anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid and interestingly, a minimal lesion of papillary adenocarcinoma was found to exist concurrently in the thyroid gland of this patient.