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Paraganglioma of the Thyroid Gland: A Rare Entity

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Abstract

Paragangliomas are neuroendocrine tumors. The thyroid gland is one of the anatomic sites in which paraganglia are not normally located and are exceptionally rare. We report a case of a 36-year-old Hispanic woman with a soft mass measuring about 30 mm in the right thyroid lobe. Patient was operated on and the neoplasm showed microscopically a typical nesting organoid pattern (zellballen). The inmunohistochemical analysis revealed that the tumor showed strongly and diffuse stain for NSE, Synaptophysin, Chromogranin A, and S-100 protein in the sustentacular cells, whereas no inmunoreactivity was detected with antibodies against thyroglobulin, calcitonin, TTF-1, CEA, and AE1-AE3. The MIB-1 labeling showed 7% of neoplastic cells. Head and neck paragangliomas usually develop slowly, and this tumor exhibited a low proliferative activity. In view of the uncertain malignant potential of paragangliomas, we recommended a careful long-term follow-up.

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Author notes

  1. Nicolás González Poggioli

    Present address: C/ Alcalde Electo Carballo 20B 5°D, 15174 A Corveira-Culleredo, A Coruña, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

    Nicolás González Poggioli & Manuel López Amado

  2. Department of Pathology, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

    María Teresa Yebra Pimentel

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  1. Nicolás González Poggioli
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  2. Manuel López Amado
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  3. María Teresa Yebra Pimentel
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Correspondence to Nicolás González Poggioli.

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González Poggioli, N., López Amado, M. & Yebra Pimentel, M.T. Paraganglioma of the Thyroid Gland: A Rare Entity. Endocr Pathol 20, 62–65 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12022-009-9066-2

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