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Review
. 2018 Jun 28:19:757-762.
doi: 10.12659/AJCR.907313.

Invasive Thyroglossal Duct Cyst Papillary Carcinoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Michael Alatsakis  1 , Maria Drogouti  1 , Chrysoula Tsompanidou  2 , Anastasios Katsourakis  1 , Iosif Chatzis  1
Affiliations
Review

Invasive Thyroglossal Duct Cyst Papillary Carcinoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Michael Alatsakis et al. Am J Case Rep. .

Abstract

BACKGROUND Thyroglossal duct cyst is a common congenital anomaly of the thyroid gland, usually found centrally. The presence of malignancy occurring in a thyroglossal duct cyst is a rare condition, accounting only for 1% of all cases of thyroglossal duct cyst. This report is of a rare case of papillary carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst and includes a review of the literature. CASE REPORT A 27-year-old female patient was referred to our department with a painless cystic mass in the neck. After initial physical examination and endocrinology investigations, a fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the cyst was performed. Cytology showed a papillary neoplasm. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy and surgical excision of the thyroglossal duct cyst (the Sistrunk's procedure). Histopathology of the surgical excision specimen showed a thyroglossal duct cyst with a maximum diameter of 7.5 cm containing a primary invasive papillary carcinoma, measuring 1.5 cm in diameter that infiltrated into the cyst wall. The remaining thyroid gland was normal. CONCLUSIONS Thyroglossal duct carcinoma, most commonly papillary carcinoma, is a rare condition that should be considered in patients presenting with cystic midline neck masses. Surgery and complete excision is the main treatment and the optimal patient management includes multidisciplinary consultation in order to improve survival. The diagnosis of malignancy is made postoperatively, as in the present case.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared

Conflict of interest

None.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A painless, well-demarcated, anterior midline cervical mass measuring 6 cm in diameter, and gradually increasing in the past six months.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) imaging of the neck confirmed a 6 cm diameter multilocular, midline, thyroglossal duct cyst.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Total thyroidectomy and surgical excision of the thyroglossal duct cyst (Sistrunk’s procedure).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Photomicrograph of the histopathology of the papillary thyroid carcinoma arising in the thyroglossal duct cyst. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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