Clinical Characteristics of Primary Thyroid Lymphoma

Abstract

Background and Objectives Primary thyroid lymphoma is rare in thyroid cancer and also in extranodal lymphoma. As such, there has been only a few studies done on this rare disease, and this study evaluated its clinical characteristics and prognosis.Subjects and Method A retrospective review was conducted on 18 patients who were treated for primary thyroid lymphoma between January 2006 and December 2021. We investigated clinical, radiologic, pathologic findings, treatment modalities and prognosis.Results The study involved 18 patients, all of whom were confirmed through histopathological assessments via thyroidectomy (5/18), core needle biopsy (12/18), and incisional biopsy (1/18). Among these, three patients were male, while 15 were female, with a mean age of 66.4±8.78 (49-82). The most common symptom was a palpable neck mass (8/18). The most common pathologic type was diffuse large B cell lymphoma (9 patients), followed by mucosaassociated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (6 patients). At the time of diagnosis, 3 (20.0%) 8 (53.3%), 0, and 4 (26.7%) number of patients were found in Stage I, II, III and IV, respectively. Twelve patients received chemotherapy and three patients received radiation therapy. Three patients were lost to follow-up without treatment.Conclusion Primary thyroid lymphoma should be included in differential diagnosis when making a diagnosis for rapid growing thyroid nodule. Core needle biopsy is considered as first line pathologic diagnostic tool due to limitation of fine needle cytology.