Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 6, 2019; 7(5): 656-662
Published online Mar 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i5.656
Concomitant paraganglioma and thyroid carcinoma: A case report
Bo Lin, Hong-Yu Yang, Hui-Jun Yang, Shi-Yue Shen
Bo Lin, Hong-Yu Yang, Hui-Jun Yang, Shi-Yue Shen, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen 518036, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Yang HY designed the study; Yang HY and Yang HJ contributed surgical treatment and follow-up data collection; Lin B and Shen SY analyzed the data; Lin B wrote the paper; Yang HY revised the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: The patient provided written informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hong-Yu Yang, PhD, Professor, Surgeon, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, 1120 Lianhua Road, Futian District, Shenzhen 518036, Guangdong Province, China. yanghongyu0520@163.com
Telephone: +86-755-83923333 Fax: +86-755-83923333
Received: January 19, 2019
Peer-review started: January 22, 2019
First decision: January 26, 2019
Revised: February 1, 2019
Accepted: February 18, 2019
Article in press: February 18, 2019
Published online: March 6, 2019
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Paraganglioma/pheochromocytoma and medullary thyroid carcinoma can coexist and are often found in multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN). However, very few cases highlight papillary thyroid carcinoma. We present herein a rare case of head and neck paraganglioma associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma.

CASE SUMMARY

A 51-year-old man presented to our department with right-sided neck swelling and hypertension. Physical examination showed neck masses with obvious pulsation. Concentrations of serum calcium, phosphorus, parathormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, free thyroxine, and calcitonin were within normal limits. Enhanced computed tomography revealed an irregular solid nodule, located in the carotid artery bifurcation. A low-density nodule of the thyroid isthmus with a spot-like dense shadow was also detected. The diagnosis of carotid body tumor was raised and an ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy of the thyroid nodule revealed papillary thyroid carcinoma. The patient underwent surgery for lesion excision, total thyroidectomy, and neck dissection, and the pathology was reported as paraganglioma and papillary carcinoma. Genetic studies showed negative results for germline mutation of succinate dehydrogenase subunit D on 11q23. He was treated with 131I after surgery and remained disease-free so far.

CONCLUSION

The presence of concomitant paraganglioma and thyroid papillary carcinoma could be either coincidental or a result of an unknown mutation.

Keywords: Paraganglioma, Thyroid carcinoma, Multiple endocrine tumors, Case report

Core tip: The presence of concomitant paraganglioma and thyroid papillary carcinoma is extremely rare. We present a case of a head and neck paraganglioma associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma in a 51-year-old man. The major characteristics and imaging features of the lesion are discussed.