Neuroendocrine carcinoma of gall bladder: a rare presentation with review of literature

Neuroendocrine tumors are the rarest tumors of gallbladder, The most aggressive variant is neuroendocrine carcinoma which presents in about 0.5% of all gallbladder carcinomas and 0.2% of all neuroendocrine tumors. It seems possible that survival rates can be improved by utilizing wide surgical resection combined with chemotherapy. We report a case of neuroendocrine carcinoma of gall bladder in a 20-year old female patient. In present case, the etiology was not known as patient did not have cholelithiasis or any symptoms related to chronic inflammation. Our extensive search of indexed literature shows that our patient was the youngest patient with this disease so far

Isolated metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma masquerading as parapharyngeal space paraganglioma

Isolated metastatic deposits of papillary thyroid carcinoma to the parapharyngeal space are rare. Herein, we describe the case of a young woman who presented with a right-sided oropharyngeal mass that was initially diagnosed as a parapharyngeal space paraganglioma. The patient opted for conservative treatment as she was asymptomatic and wished to avoid the risk of neurovascular morbidity associated with surgery. After 20 years, the patient sought treatment again for the oropharyngeal mass, which had progressively increased in size and was causing difficulty in swallowing. Repeat imaging of the affected area revealed that the mass had increased significantly in size; it also revealed the presence of a previously absent small lesion in the right lobe of the thyroid. Excision of the parapharyngeal space tumour and near-total thyroidectomy were performed; the excised specimens showed features of the follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma. As papillary thyroid carcinoma that metastasises to the parapharyngeal space can masquerade as a paraganglioma, clinicians should bear in mind that an isolated metastatic deposit in the parapharyngeal space could be the first sign of occult papillary thyroid carcinoma.