Ectopic thyroid microfollicular adenoma in the lung

Abstract

Introduction:Ectopic thyroid occurs due to aberrant development of the thyroid gland during its migration to the pretracheal region. Intrapulmonary ectopic thyroid is extremely rare and its benign transformation (microfollicular adenoma) has never been reported. This paper reports a case of ectopic thyroid microfollicular adenoma in the lung mimicking metastatic pelvic tumors.Patient concerns:A 76-year old female presented to our hospital because of transient unconsciousness. Pelvic ultrasound (US) and chest computed tomography (CT) showed pelvic tumors and pulmonary nodules.Diagnosis and interventions:The patient underwent pelvic tumors resection and CT-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) at the largest pulmonary nodule. Pathological description revealed bilateral ovarian serous cystadenoma and endometrioma in pelvic, and ectopic thyroid microfollicular adenoma in lung. In view of the patient's age and physical conditions, it is unanimously decided by the physicians and the family members of the patient to closely follow up this benign pulmonary lesion.Outcomes:During the 12-month follow-up, no pelvic tumor recurrence or metastasis was found. CT review of pulmonary nodules showed no remarkable changes. The patient was asymptomatic and euthyroid after being discharged from the hospital.Conclusion:Ectopic thyroid microfollicular adenoma in the lung is extremely rare and can be easily mistaken for pulmonary metastases from other sites. The case reported in this paper highlights that ectopic intrapulmonary thyroid tumor should not be overlooked.

Ectopic thyroid as multiple nodules in bilateral lung lobes: a case report

“…Although the cause of this abnormality is not very clear, it has been determined that mutations in genetic factors and regulatory genes expressed during thyroid development are linked to ectopic thyroid (12). In the past few decades, only a few sporadic cases of ectopic thyroid in the lung have been reported (3,(13)(14)(15)(16). The case we reported has a distinct difference compared with other cases, as multiple nodules were accidentally and simultaneously found in bilateral pulmonary lobes without any notable medical history.…”

Rare ectopic thyroid tissue as multiple bilateral pulmonary nodules: a case report and literature review

“…Ectopic thyroid tissue in the bilateral lung lobes is extremely rare, with only 4 previously reported cases [7][8][9][10]. In the present case, we described a novel case of ectopic intrapulmonary thyroid tissue that occurred in both lungs, and this ectopic tissue was incidentally found on a medical screening examination.…”

“…Three patients were diagnosed with ectopic thyroid tissue without evidence of malignancy, and two of these patients were observed conservatively and were followed up regularly [ 7 , 9 , 10 ]. Another patient was diagnosed as having ectopic thyroid microfollicular adenoma by surgical resection [ 8 ].Interestingly, the four reported patients with bilateral pulmonary ectopic thyroid were from Asia: one Korean patient and three Chinese patients. Notably, two of the Chinese patients were from Wuhan, China.…”

“…Usually, aberrant ectopic thyroid tissue occurs along the midline and rarely in the gall bladder, lung, adrenal gland, heart or liver [2][3][4][5][6]. To our knowledge, most ectopic thyroid tissue in the lung is in a single lobe or homolateral lobes, and only 4 cases of ectopic intrapulmonary thyroid tissue in the bilateral lung lobes have been reported in the literature [7][8][9][10]. However, it is extremely difficult to diagnose multiple solid pulmonary nodules using only the patient's clinical information and radiological findings.…”

Surgical resection of mediastinal ectopic thyroid tissue: a case series

“…M e d i a s t i n a l e c t o p i c t h y r o i d m a s s e s a r e o f t e n asymptomatic and incidentally identified on imaging studies (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22). Some cases exhibit compressive symptoms such as: dyspnea (9,22), cough (6), difficulty in swallowing (23)(24)(25), voice hoarseness (23), and chest pain (6).…”