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Carcinoma Showing Thymus-Like Differentiation (CASTLE)

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Pathology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Pathology ((EP))

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Synonyms

Carcinoma showing thymus-like features; CD5-positive thyroid carcinoma; Intrathyroid thymic carcinoma; Intrathyroidal epithelial thymoma; Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the thyroid; Primary thyroid thymoma

Definition

Carcinoma showing thymus-like differentiation (CASTLE) is an intrathyroid thymic carcinoma (Lloyd et al. 2017). It is a malignant tumor of the thyroid with thymus epithelial differentiation that is thought to originate from solid cell nests, ectopic thymus tissue, or embryonic thymus rest in or adjacent to the thyroid. The acronym based name CASTLE was coined by Rosai and Chan in 1991 after the first description by Miyauchi et al. in 1985 (Chan and Rosai 1991).

Clinical Features

  • Incidence

    CASTLE is a very rare tumor that accounts for 0.08–0.15% of all primary thyroid malignancies. Nearly 300 cases have been reported to date in the literature, most of them occurring in Asia (Ito et al. 2007; Gao et al. 2018).

  • Age

    It occurs in adults with a mean age in the...

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References and Further Reading

  • Chan, J. K., & Rosai, J. (1991). Tumors of the neck showing thymic or related brachial pouch differentiation: A unifying concept. Human Pathology, 22, 349–367.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gao, R., Jia, X., Ji, T., Feng, J., Yang, A., & Zhang, G. (2018). Management and prognostic factors for thyroid carcinoma showing thymus-like elements (CASTLE): A case series study. Frontiers in Oncology, 8, 477.

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  • Ito, Y., Miyauchi, A., Nakamura, Y., Miya, A., Kobayashi, K., & Kakudo, K. (2007). Clinicopathological significance of intrathyroidal epithelial thymoma/carcinoma showing thymus-like differentiation – A collaborative study with member institutes of the Japanese society of thyroid surgery. Anatomic Pathology, 127, 230–236.

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  • Lloyd, V. R., Osamura, R. Y., Kloppel, G., & Rosai, J. (2017). WHO classification of tumours of endocrine organs. Lyon: IARC.

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  • Wang, Y.-f., Liu, B., Fan, X.-s., Rao, Q., Xu, Y., Xia, Q.-y., Yu, B., Shi, S.-s., & Zhou, X.-j. (2015). Thyroid carcinoma showing thymus-like elements – a clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical, ultrastructural, and molecular analysis. American Society for Clinical Pathology, 143, 223–233.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal

    Catarina Eloy

Authors
  1. Catarina Eloy
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Correspondence to Catarina Eloy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands

    J.H.J.M. van Krieken

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Eloy, C. (2020). Carcinoma Showing Thymus-Like Differentiation (CASTLE). In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5131-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5131-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28845-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28845-1

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