Home Current Issue Previous Issues Published Ahead-of-Print For Authors Journal Info
Skip Navigation LinksHome > August 2005 - Volume 27 - Issue 4 > Cutaneous Metastases of Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma: A Repo...
You could be reading the full-text of this article now...
If you have access to this article through your institution, you can view this article in OvidSP.
American Journal of Dermatopathology:
August 2005 - Volume 27 - Issue 4 - pp 306-312
Original Article

Cutaneous Metastases of Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma: A Report of Four Cases and a Review of the Literature

Quinn, Timothy R MD, CM; Duncan, Lyn M MD; Zembowicz, Artur MD; Faquin, William C MD, PhD

Collapse Box

Abstract

Cutaneous metastasis of follicular carcinoma of the thyroid is very rare, and when it occurs, can exhibit a variety of histologic appearances. The 4 cases presented here were identified from the surgical pathology files of the James Homer Wright Laboratories of Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The cases consisted of 4 patients, 3 men and 1 woman, aged 52 to 75 years, with cutaneous metastasis of follicular thyroid carcinoma. The tumors include a conventional follicular carcinoma, a follicular carcinoma with anaplastic transformation following initial metastasis, the first reported cutaneous metastases of a follicular carcinoma with oncocytic features (Hürthle cell carcinoma), and a follicular carcinoma with a prominent insular carcinoma component. All 4 tumors were widely invasive within the thyroid gland. Sites of dermal metastases included a post-thyroidectomy scar, scalp, and sacral skin. Three metastases retained the morphologic and immunocytochemical features of the primary thyroid tumors. However, in one case there was high-grade transformation to anaplastic carcinoma following treatment of a sacral metastasis with accompanying loss of the characteristic immunophenotype of follicular thyroid carcinoma. Awareness of the varied morphologies of metastatic follicular thyroid carcinoma to the skin may prompt immunohistochemical analysis and the request for a complete clinical history, ultimately preventing misdiagnosis.

© 2005 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Login




Help

Forgot Password?

Search for Similar Articles
You may search for similar articles that contain these same keywords or you may modify the keyword list to augment your search.