• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.169-174
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• 2021

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common malignant neoplasm of the salivary gland, but primary thyroid MEC has rarely been reported and usually has a good prognosis. Herein, I report a case of thyroidal MEC with a poor prognosis in an 82-year-old woman with an anterior neck mass. Ultrasonography and computed tomography revealed a thyroid mass. The patient initially underwent fine-needle aspiration, was diagnosed with malignancy, and underwent a right lobectomy. On gross examination, a 4.0×3.6×2.6 cm-sized ill-defined, unencapsulated, and infiltrative tan to whitish mass with necrosis was identified. Microscopically, epidermoid tumor cell nests or solid sheets were identified. Mucous cells that were positive for periodic acid-Schiff and mucicarmine stains were also identified within epidermoid cell nests. Frequent mitosis and necrosis were observed. Immunohistochemical staining for p40 and p63 was positive, and that for thyroid transcription factor-1 and paired box gene 8 was focally positive. According to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology grading system for salivary gland MEC, the current case was classified as high-grade MEC. After surgery, the patient suffered from dyspnea due to a remnant neck mass that compressed and obstructed the trachea; therefore, the patient refused further treatment. Thyroidal MECs are considered low-grade with a favorable prognosis, but there are several reported cases of thyroidal MEC with poor prognosis. The current case is a rare presentation of high-grade thyroidal MEC with a poor prognosis.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.598-604
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• 2020

Objective: Proper management of lymph nodes (LNs) with ultrasonographic (US) indeterminate features in thyroid cancer patients remains elusive. We aimed to evaluate the malignancy risk and US findings predictive of malignancy for US indeterminate LNs in preoperative thyroid cancer patients through node-by-node correlation. Materials and Methods: A total of 348 LNs in 284 thyroid cancer patients, who underwent fine-needle aspiration or core-needle biopsy between December 2006 and June 2015, were included. We determined the malignancy risks for US probably benign, indeterminate, and suspicious categories. For US indeterminate LNs, which had neither echogenic hilum nor hilar vascularity in the absence of any suspicious finding, US findings were compared between benign and metastatic LNs using Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test. Results: US imaging diagnoses were probably benign in 20.7% (n = 72) cases, indeterminate in 23.6% (n = 82), and suspicious in 55.7% (n = 194). Malignancy risk of US indeterminate LNs (19.5% [16/82]) differed from those of the US probably benign (2.8% [2/72]) (p = 0.002) and US suspicious LNs (78.4% [152/194]) (p < 0.001). Among US indeterminate LNs, there were no significant differences in short, long, and long-to-short diameter (L/S) ratios between benign and metastatic LNs (3.9 vs. 3.8 mm, p = 0.619; 7.3 vs. 7.3 mm, p = 0.590; 1.9 vs. 1.9, p = 0.652). Conclusion: US indeterminate LNs were frequently encountered during preoperative evaluation and had intermediate malignancy risk. Given the lack of discriminative power of size criteria and L/S ratio, clinical factors such as surgical strategy and node size should be considered for proper triage of US indeterminate LNs in thyroid cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 1994

Fine needle aspiration cytologic features of a case of insular carcinoma of the thyroid in a 23-year-old woman who presented a palpable neck mass is described. The aspirate showed cellular smear arranged in trabeculae, solid or loose clusters, and microfillicles in necrotic background. The tumor cells had uniform, small round, hyperchromatic nuclei. The chromatin was finely granular, and nuclear membrane was smooth. Nucleoli were not discernible. Nuclear pleomorphism was minimal. The cytoplasm was usually scanty, pale, poorly outlined, and almostly amphophilic. Sometimes paranuclear cytoplasmic vacuoles were noted. final diagnosis was confirmed by total thyroidectomy as insular carcinoma.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.161-164
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• 2007

Thyroid hemiagenesis is a rare anomaly, which is the result of failure of embryologic development of a lobe of thyroid gland. It is more frequently found in the left lobe and in female patients. We, herein, report an extremely rare case of thyroid hemiagenesis associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma. A 69-year-old female presented with an incidentally discovered thyroid nodule in the right thyroid during a routine medical check-up. Ultrasonography(US) and computed tomography(CT) disclosed $0.7{\times}0.5cm\;and\;2.8{\times}2.2cm$ sized nodules in the right thyroid. The left thyroid, however, was not seen in the imaging studies of US and CT. Fine-needle aspiration of the small and large nodules showed papillary thyroid carcinoma and adenomatous hyperplasia, respectively. The patient underwent a right total thyroidectomy with central compartment node dissection. The operative findings and histologic examination confirmed the absence of the left thyroid associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma and ademonatous hyperplasia of the right thyroid.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2015

A fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is the primary means of distinguishing benign from malignant in thyroid nodules. However, between 10 and 30% of the FNABs of thyroid nodules are diagnosed as 'indeterminate'. A molecular method is needed to reduce unnecessary surgery in this group. In Korea, most thyroid cancer is classic papillary type and BRAFV600E mutation is highly prevalent. Thus, this study compared the pyrosequencing method with the conventional direct DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP analysis and investigated the evaluation of preoperative BRAFV600E mutation analysis as an adjunct diagnostic method with routine FNABs. Sixty-five (78.3%) of 83 histopathologically diagnosed malignant nodule revealed positive BRAFV600E mutation on pyrosequencing analysis. In detail, 65 (83.8%) of 78 papillary thyroid carcinomas sample showed positive BRAFV600E mutation. None of 29 benign nodules had in pyrodequencing, direct DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP. Out of 31 thyroid nodules classified as 'indeterminate' on cytological examination preoperatively, 28 cases turned out to be malignant: 24 papillary thyroid carcinomas. Among that, 16 (66.7%) classic papillary thyroid carcinomas had BRAFV600E mutation. Among 65 papillary thyroid carcinomas with positive BRAFV600E mutation detected by pyrosequencing analysis, each 3 cases and 5 cases did not show BRAFV600E mutation by direct DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP analysis. Therefore, pyrosequencing was superior to direct DNA sequencing and PCR-RFLP in detecting the BRAFV600E mutation of thyroid nodules (p =0.027). Detecting BRAFV600E mutation by pyrosequencing was more sensitivity, faster than direct DNA sequencing or PCR-RFLP.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.177-181
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• 1999

Objective: The clinical significance of mass screening for thyroid carcinoma remains unclear. This study was carried out to clarify the value of mass screening for thyroid carcinoma. Materials and Methods: From December 1997 through July 1998, a total of 1,401 subjects who were enrolled to receive breast screening or follow-up examination for breast cancer were included in this study. Thyroid glands were examined by 10 MHz ultrasonography by one experienced radiologist. The patients with thyroid nodules were classified into 2 groups according to their potential risk of malignancy by ultrasonographic findings(high-risk : hypoechogenicity, microcalcification, irregular margin, taller than wider shape). High-risk patients were advised to undergo fine-needle aspiration biopsy and thyroidectomy. The characteristics of the thyroid cancers detected by ultrasonographic mass screening were compared by those of clinical thyroid cancer excluding male patients during the same period. Results: Thyroid nodules were detected in 353(25.2%) of the subjects and 259(73.4%) were listed in the low-risk group and 94(26.6%) in high-risk group. Among 94 patients in the high-risk group, 43 underwent thyroidectomy and 37 turned out to have thyroid carcinomas. Thus, the detection rates for carcinoma were 2.6% of all subject, 10.5% of the detected nodules, 36.4% of the high risk women and 86.0% of the operated cases. The tumor size was significantly smaller in the mass-screening group than in the clinical cancer group(p<0.05). However, there was no statistical differences between two groups in the prevalences of neck node involvement and extracapsular invasion and the patients distributions by AMES score, MACIS score and TNM stage. Conclusion: Ultrasonogrpahic mass screening may be useful for the early detection of thyroid carcinoma in women who are scheduled to have breast examination.

• International journal of thyroidology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.189-193
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• 2018

A thyroglossal duct cyst (TGDC) is the most common congenital anomaly of the neck. However, carcinoma arising from TGDC is extremely rare. We report 2 cases of TGDC carcinoma. In the first case, a 21-year-old male patient complained of an anterior cervical mass; computed tomography (CT) and sonography revealed cystic mass that was suspected to be a TGDC. Sistrunk operation was performed. Papillary carcinoma was confirmed in pathologic examination. Additionally, he underwent total thyroidectomy and central neck dissection. After radioactive iodine ablation (RAI) was performed. In the second case, a 28-year-old male patient visited our out-patient department complaining of submental mass. He had already been diagnosed TGDC carcinoma 13 years ago and had undergone Sistrunk operation and total thyroidectomy. Malignancy was confirmed using fine-needle aspiration; thus, lateral neck dissection was performed and following this, he underwent RAI. Till date, no evidence of recurrence has been observed in these patients.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.91-101
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• 1994

Nodular thyroid disease is a common clinical problem. The problem in clinical practice is to distinguish malignant or potentially malignant tumor from harmless nodules. The cases of thyroid nodule surgically managed at Department of General Surgery, Soon Chun Hyang Univ. Hospital during the period Jan. 1985 to July. 1992 were reviewed retrospectively. To assess method of distinguishing malignant from benign lesions of the thyroid gland, we reviewed 162 patients with thyroid nodule. There were 61(37.7%) malignant nodules and 101(62.3%) benign nodules. According to the review, distinguishing the benign from the malignant nodule with history, physical examination, clinical manifestation, and duration of illness was not suggested sufficiently. In ultrasonogram of 73 cases, 57.5% of nodules were solid, 20.6% were cystic, 21.9% were mixed solid and cystic. Of these, 28.5% of the operated solid lesions, 12.5% of the mixed lesions, and only 6.7% of the cystic lesions were malignant. Thyroid scanning of 82 cases revealed cold nodules in 60 patients(73.2%), of which 26 cases were malignant(36.6%) 137 patients underwent fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC), and these results were as follow: sensitiviey was 70.6%, specificity was 93.0%, false-positive rate was 14.3%, and false-negative rate was 15.8%. 41 patients underwent frozen biopsy, and the results as follow: sensitivity was 80.0%, specificity was 89.7%. Neither scintigraphy nor ultrasonogram has sufficient specificity to distinguish benign from malignant nodule. But FNAC and frozen biopsy have sufficient accuracy to differentiate benign from malignant nodule. In the benign nodules, the most common type of operation was total lobectomy (60.4%). Of the malignant nodules, total thyroidectomy with or without modified radical neck dissection was performed in 30 cases(49.2%). We conclude that the single technique used to determine the differential diagnosis of a thyroid nodule are unrealiable. It is therefore essential to combine all avaiable clinical and laboratory information.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.95-99
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• 2000

Thyroid carcinoma is relatively rare in children. Eight cases of thyroid carcinoma were among 18 patients operated upon for thyroid tumors at Pediatric Surgery, Asan Medical Center in 11 years' period between 1989 and 2000. Five patients were boys and three were girls. The age distribution ranged from 10 to 14 years with a median age of 11.6 years. We studied clinical presentations, diagnostic workup, pathology, treatment, and follow-up (recurrence, mortality, and survival). All patients presented with anterior neck mass but one with multiple cervical lymph nodes enlargement. Familial history of thyroid cancer was seen in one case. All patients had a cold nodule by 1-131 thyroid scan. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy was performed in all patients. The right lobe was involved in four patients and the left lobe in two. Two had both lobes involvement. Pathologically, six cases were papillary carcinoma, one was follicular carcinoma, and one insular carcinoma. Four patients underwent unilateral lobectomy and isthmectomy. Total thyroidectomy was performed in three patients. The insular carcinoma case was preoperatively diagnosed as follicular neoplasm by FNA. After confirmation of the pathology by initial right thyroid lobectomy, total thyroidectomy was subsequently done. Cervical lymph node metastases were presented in three cases (37.5%), and lung metastasis in two cases (25%). Three patients received postoperative I-131 ablation. After a median follow-up of 53 months, all patients were alive without evidence of recurrence. In conclusion, thyroid carcinoma in children is frequently associated with lymph nodes involvement and distant metastasis, however, the prognosis is relatively good.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.133-137
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• 2007

With the wide use of ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration of the thyroid gland, the incidence of papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid gland is rapidly increasing nowadays. To improve the diagnostic accuracy of histopathologic findings of papillary thyroid carcinoma, various molecular markers have been used recently. We analysed the expression of galectin-3, cytokeratin 19 and HBME-1, using immunohistochemical technique in 37 cases of papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid gland to evaluate the diagnostic value of these molecular markers. Immunohistochemically, galectin-3 expression was found in 37 cases of papillary microcarcinoma. Its localization was mostly cytoplasmic. Cytokeratin 19 expression was found in 36 cases. It was mostly localized to the cytoplasm and membrane. HBME-1 expression was found in all cases. Its localization was plasma membrane. The expression of these three molecular markers was negative in the adjacent normal thyroid tissue and accompanying benign lesions, although there are scattered foci of incomplete positive staining in cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Our findings suggest that the immunohistochemical staining using antibodies for galectin-3, cytokeratin 19 and HBME-1 is an useful adjunctive method for the histopathological diagnosis of a papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid gland.