Thyroid hemangiomas diagnosed on sonography

Abstract

Primary thyroid hemangiomas are extremely rare, and only a few cases have been previously reported. Primary hemangiomas are developmental anomalies resulting from the inability of the angioblastic mesenchyme to form canals. Thyroid hemangiomas are generally considered difficult to diagnose preoperatively because of their low incidence and nonspecific imaging findings. Here we report 2 cases of thyroid hemangiomas that were diagnosed correctly on preoperative sonography. Our cases showed similar sonographic findings, such as well-circumscribed hypoechoic lesions with internal channel-like linear lines, and bloody content was aspirated during fine-needle aspirations. Our report shows that thyroid hemangiomas can be diagnosed correctly by sonography with or without confirmation of bloody content in the lesions by fine-needle aspiration.

Keywords: computed tomography; fine-needle biopsy; hemangioma; sonography; superficial structures; thyroid; vascular malformations.