Final Diagnosis -- Rhabdoid Tumor of the Thyroid


FINAL DIAGNOSIS:

RHABDOID (ANAPLASTIC) THYROID CARCINOMA ASSOCIATED WITH AND/OR ARISING FROM A PAPILLARY THYROID CARCINOMA (7.5CM)

DISCUSSION:

Malignant rhabdoid tumors originally described as renal neoplasms in children, have since been described in extrarenal sites [1, 2]. In 1998 Chetty and Govender reported three cases of follicular thyroid carcinoma with rhabdoid phenotype [3]. Subsequently, four additional cases have been reported [4-6]. The patients ranged in age from 42 to 67 years and 6 of 7 were females. Rhabdoid thyroid carcinomas are aggressive, with metastases reported in six of the seven cases and death from disease in five of six patients.

The tumor in this case was composed of 95% malignant rhabdoid cells. As previously described in similar cases, this tumor had an aggressive clinical course. This case is only the second reported case of rhabdoid thyroid carcinoma occurring in the setting of papillary thyroid carcinoma and only the second one reported in a male.

REFERENCES:

  1. Beckwith, J.B. and N.F. Palmer, Histopathology and prognosis of Wilms tumors: results from the First National Wilms' Tumor Study. Cancer, 1978. 41(5): p. 1937-48.
  2. Wick, M.R., J.H. Ritter, and L.P. Dehner, Malignant rhabdoid tumors: a clinicopathologic review and conceptual discussion. Semin Diagn Pathol, 1995. 12(3): p. 233-48.
  3. Chetty, R. and D. Govender, Follicular thyroid carcinoma with rhabdoid phenotype. Virchows Arch, 1999. 435(2): p. 133-6.
  4. Sumida, T., et al., A case of submandibular malignant rhabdoid tumor transformed from papillary thyroid carcinoma. J Oral Pathol Med, 2001. 30(7): p. 443-7.
  5. Albores-Saavedra, J. and S. Sharma, Poorly differentiated follicular thyroid carcinoma with rhabdoid phenotype: a clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic study of two cases. Mod Pathol, 2001. 14(2): p. 98-104.
  6. Lai, M.L., et al., Rhabdoid tumor of the thyroid gland: a variant of anaplastic carcinoma. Arch Pathol Lab Med, 2005. 129(3): p. e55-7.

Contributed by Joel F. Gradowski, MD and E. Leon Barnes Jr, MD




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