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Case Reports
. 2019 Dec;98(50):e18293.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000018293.

Ectopic thyroid in the gallbladder accompanied with gallbladder adenoma: A case report

Yanxu Li  1 , Shijun Li  2 , Meng Wang  2 , Ling Tong  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Ectopic thyroid in the gallbladder accompanied with gallbladder adenoma: A case report

Yanxu Li et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Rationale: Ectopic thyroid is most common in the tongue. Here we reported a rare case of thyroid tissue located in the gallbladder wall, accompanied with adenoma and a cyst lined with pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium in the neck region of gallbladder neck.

Patient concerns: A 39-year-old female presented with recurrent upper abdominal pain and radiating back pain.

Diagnoses: Based on ultrasonography, gallbladder polyps and calculous cholecystitis were suspected.

Interventions: The patient was treated by laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and thyroid tissue located in the gallbladder wall was found. Histopathological examination showed no features of papillary thyroid neoplasm.

Outcomes: The patient had no thyroid nodules or suspicious enlarged lymph nodes, and no other symptoms or complications by follow-up for 2.5 years up to September 2019.

Lessons: We should pay attention to the rare location of ectopic thyroid tissue in the gallbladder and rule out primary thyroid malignancy to avoid unnecessary overtreatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Ectopic thyroid tissue in the gallbladder wall. (A) The ectopic thyroid nodule was beneath the muscular layer of the gall bladder, and the epithelium of the gall bladder was atrophy. (B) The thyroid follicles lined by low cuboidal cells contained regular round nuclei and inconspious nucleoli, without the features of papillary thyroid neoplasm. (C–D) The ectopic thyroid showed cytoplasmic staining of thyroglobulin and TTF-1 in the follicular cell and the colloid. (E–F) Follicular cells immunostained for TTF-1 and PAX-8. (G–H) The follicular cells were negative for HBME-1 and CK19 staining. (I) The adenoma of the gallbladder. (J) The adenoma showed strong staining for CK19. (K) The cyst near cystic duct of gallbladder. Cyst lumen was present in left region. (L) Ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium of the cyst.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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