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. 2011 Mar;45(1):53-8.
doi: 10.2478/v10019-010-0039-3. Epub 2010 Sep 22.

Metastatic tumours to the thyroid gland: report of 3 cases and brief review of the literature

Enver Vardar  1 , Nazif Erkan, Umit Bayol, Cengiz Yılmaz, Murat Dogan
Affiliations

Metastatic tumours to the thyroid gland: report of 3 cases and brief review of the literature

Enver Vardar et al. Radiol Oncol. 2011 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Metastases to the thyroid are encountered rarely in clinical practice, but the number of cases seems to have increased in recent years. The reason of this increase may be a more frequent use of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and the use of more sophisticated, complicated imaging techniques in patients with thyroid masses. Also, in addition to these reasons, the use of more organo-specific immunohistochemical antibodies in the examination of surgical specimens may affect the differential diagnosis of malignant tumours.

Case reports: Three metastatic tumours to thyroid were found in the retrospective review of malignant thyroid tumours diagnosed between January 1993 and December 2007. The primary tumours were clear cell carcinoma of the kidney, squamous cell carcinoma of the lung and breast carcinoma-ductal type.

Conclusions: A detailed clinical history, careful histological examination and essential immunohistochemistry helped in attaining the correct diagnosis.

Keywords: metastatic tumours; secondary malignancies; thyroid malignancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Figures

FIGURE 1A.
FIGURE 1A.
Large, two solid tumour islands separated with fibrous septum and normal thyroid acini (upper left) were seen (HE-X40).
FIGURE 1B.
FIGURE 1B.
Diffuse, strong CD10 positivity were seen in neoplastic areas especially located in right part of the image (X100).
FIGURE 1C.
FIGURE 1C.
TTF-1 positivity was seen in residual thyroid follicles located in left part of the image (X100).
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
Large, solid tumour island contain necrosis in central portion were seen in above of the image. Residual normal thyroid follicles are present in left upper part of the image (HE-X20). Squamous differentiation consistent with acidophilic cytoplasm, vesicular nuclei and intercellular bridges were seen in tumour cells (inset) (HE-X400).
FIGURE 3A.
FIGURE 3A.
Small, ductuli like tumour cells, residual thyroid follicles and pleomorphic tumour cells in high magnification and necrosis were seen (inset) (HE-X400).
FIGURE 3B.
FIGURE 3B.
TTF-1 nuclear immunreactivity were seen in residual thyroid follicles located in upper left corner of the image whereas tumour cells were negative in case 3 (X100).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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