Primary thyroid lymphoma:a case report and reviews of literature / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To discuss the clinical diagnosis and treatment of primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) by reporting a case and reviewing relevant literatures.Methods Clinical data of a case diagnosed as PTL by pathology was retrospectively analyzed,and literatures related to this disease were reviewed.Results A male patient aged 71 years with a progressive enlargement of neck mass and hoarseness was suspected to have a malignant thyroid tumor and admitted to our hospital.Changes in a fine needle aspiration cytopathology before operation were considered as a malignant thyroid lesion.A final diagnosis of bilateral mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma of the thyroid was confirmed by the thyroid tissue pathological changes of surgical resection specimen.Chemotherapies were carried out.Recurrence of primary thyroid lymphoma was not found after following up to this day.Conclusions Primary thyroid lymphoma is a rare disease and easy to be misdiagnosed as Hashimoto's thyroiditis or thyroid cancer due to the lacking of specificities in clinical manifestations and in imaging examinations.Its diagnosis is based on pathological biopsy and immunohistochemistry.The optimal treatment is based on its pathological type,clinical stage and patients' age.