Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 73, Issue 4 , Pages 219-221, April 2010

Ectopic Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma Presenting as Bilateral Neck Masses

  • Yu-Jung Wang
    • ,
  • Pen-Yuan Chu
    • ,
  • Shyh-Kuan Tai

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Shyh-Kuan Tai, Department of Otolaryngology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 7 July 2009; received in revised form 25 January 2010

Article Outline

Ectopic thyroid papillary carcinoma presenting as bilateral neck lymph nodes metastasis is very rare. We report a 42-year-old male with midline submental ectopic thyroid papillary carcinoma presenting as bilateral progressively growing neck masses for 3 months. A right neck mass excisional biopsy was carried out and the pathology revealed metastatic papillary carcinoma. Total thyroidectomy, submental “ectopic thyroid tissue” excision and bilateral neck dissection were then performed. No primary lesions were found in the thyroid gland. Therefore, the differential diagnosis of bilateral neck masses should include cervical metastasis of ectopic papillary carcinoma.

Key Words:  cervical lymph node metastasis , ectopic thyroid , head and neck , papillary thyroid carcinoma , thyroid cancer

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PII: S1726-4901(10)70046-0

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(10)70046-0

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 73, Issue 4 , Pages 219-221, April 2010

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