Papillary Thyroid Cancer from Lateral Aberrant Thyroid Masquerading as Cervical Metastasis from Larynx Cancer: A Case Report

The aberrant or ectopic thyroid in lateral neck is a rare developmental anomaly. Furthermore, the primary thyroid carcinoma arising in ectopic thyroid is extremely rare, only a few cases have been reported so far in English literature. We report a 64-year-old male with left transglottic cancer and primary papillary carcinoma from lateral aberrant thyroid in left lateral neck. Preoperatively, we diagnosed as transglottic cancer with ipsilateral neck metastasis. The patient underwent total laryngectomy, left selective neck dissection and left thyroidectomy. Finally, the patient was diagnosed as left transglottic cancer and papillary carcinoma from lateral aberrant thyroid. Surgeons should take into account a primary ectopic thyroid carcinoma arising in lateral neck may co-exist with another type of head and neck tumor.

Diagnosis and treatment of ectopic thyroid / 中华内分泌外科杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical features , diagnosis and treatment of ectopic thyroid in order to avoid misdiagnosis and mismanagement .Methods Six cases of ectopic thyroid admitted to Fuzhou Gen-eral Hospital from Jan .2000 to Oct.2011 were retrospectively analyzed and the literatures were reviewed .Re-sults Three cases of ectopic thyroid were located in the anterior cervical area , 2 cases were at the base of the tongue and 1 case in the gall bladder .Two cases of aberrant thyroid were confirmed preoperatively in patients whose gland wasn't discovered by imaging examinations at the normal position of the thyroid gland .A symptomless individual of aberrant thyroid did not need other treatment but follow-up.One case with foreign body sensation in pharynx had a good response to thyroxine therapy .Four cases with accessory thyroid were operated because of misdiagnosis .Three cases were ectopic thyroid tissue and one was nodular goiter confirmed by pathology .None of these patients developed hypothyroidism after surgery .Conclusions Ectopic thyroid gland is a rare disease fre-quently misdiagnosed and mistreated .Goiters in the commonly location of ectopic thyroid gland such as the anteri-or cervical area and the base of the tongue should be paid special attention .Hormonal therapy or surgical inter-vention should be chosen according to clinical features , type of the goiter , thyroid function and whether it is be-nign or malignant .Long term follow-up and thyroid function tests are absolutely necessary .

One Case of a Primary Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in the Intrathoracic Lymph Node / 대한이비인후과학회지

A primary papillary thyroid carcinoma in the intrathoracic lymph node is very rare. There are two potential explanations of the lesion. The first possibility of the lesion is metastatic disease from an occult primary thyroid papillary microcarcinoma. Other possibility is malignant transformation of the aberrant thyroid tissue within the intrathoracic lymph node, which is the favored etiology in this case. We experienced an extremely rare case of true intrathoracic thyroid cancer in a 78-year-old woman, presenting with an intrathoracic malignancy. We confirmed it as papillary thyroid cancer, but there were no primary sites of thyroid glands. So, we report this rare case of a primary papillary thyroid carcinoma in the intrathoracic lymph node.

Diagnosis and treatment of ectopic thyroid gland / 中华内分泌外科杂志

Objective To explore the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of ectopic thyroid gland and to improve the management of ectopic thyroid. Methods The clinical data of 15 cases of ectopic thyroid in our hospital and the literatures were analyzed. The clinical features of ectopic thyroid gland, its diagnosis and the treatment were summarized. Results Of the 15 cases, 13 cases underwent operation. Among them, 9 cases showed symptom relief and their thyroid gland function resumed normal with no reoccurrence, 3 cases were complicated by temporary hypothyroidism and 1 case was misdiagnosed and mistreated, resulting in permanent hypothyroidism and lifetime thyroid hormone replacement. Conclusions Ectopic thyroid gland is a rare disease which was frequently misdiagnosed and mistreated. Improvement of related examination is essential in reducing misdiagnosis and mistreatment.

Papillary Thyroid Cancer Arising in Lateral Aberrant Thyroid Presenting with Multiple Metastases / 대한내분비학회지

Carcinoma of the thyroid usually presents as a palpable thyroid mass. However, in rare cases patients with thyroid cancer present with metastases of the cervical lymph node as the initial manifestation. The metastatic papillary tumor in cervical lymph nodes stained positive for thyroglobulin indicates the presence of a thyroid carcinoma, usually in the ipsilateral lobe. We herein report a case of multiple metastases in papillary thyroid carcinoma arising in the lateral aberrant thyroid with no evidence of thyroid carcinoma in the thyroid lobe.