The Case of a Carcinoma Arising from a Thyroglossal Duct Remnant with a Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma

Abstract

Carcinomas arising from a thyroglossal duct remnant are relatively rare. A 55 year-old woman visited our hospital complaining of a mass in her neck. CT scanning revealed a tumor which occupied the pre-epiglottic space behind the hyoid bone. She had undergone a total thyroidectomy and bilateral neck dissection two years ago at another hospital. The histopathologic diagnosis of the thyroid tumor was a papillary carcinoma. The mass consisted of a cystic lesion with calcification. Fine needle aspiration biopsy of the mass did not reveal any malignant cells. Her serum thyroglobulin levels had decreased from 190 ng/ml to 13.3 ng/ml after the thyroid operation, but increased again to 36.6 ng/ml when she visited our hospital. The mass was surgically resected by Sistrunk's procedure. The histopathologic diagnosis was a papillary carcinoma with normal thyroid tissue arising from a thyroglossal duct remnant. Her serum thyroglobulin levels decreased below 5 ng/ml after the surgery.