Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

T-cell Lymphoma of Thyroid Gland with Lennert Type of Morphology: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Head and Neck Pathology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The rare entity of primary T-cell lymphoma of thyroid gland may pose great diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to the pathologist and clinician. There are very few case and short series reports of these tumors describing their varied clinicopathologic features in English literature. We report a case of mature T-cell lymphoma of thyroid in a 26 year old male, with unique pseudogranulomatous and lymphohistiocytic Lennert type of morphology, on a background of autoimmune thyroiditis. This man, diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis for the previous 2 years, underwent thyroidectomy for sudden onset of pressure symptoms. The diagnosis of T-cell lymphoma was made on the thyroid tissue based on histopathologic and immunophenotypic findings, in concert with the results of T-cell receptor gene rearrangement studies by polymerase chain reaction. Later, after about 3 months, similar findings were confirmed in an excision biopsy from a left cervical lymph node in the patient. The patient has been started on chemotherapy with gemcitabine, dexamethasone, and cisplatin along with involved field radiotherapy; however, he has shown a rapid upstaging of disease from stage IE to IIIE in a short period of 3 months with relatively well preserved clinical parameters until the latest follow up.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Jaffe E, Harris NL, Stein H, Vardiman L, editors. World Health Organization classification of tumours, pathology and genetics of tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. Lyon: IARC Press; 2004. p. 109–11.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Watanabe N, Narimatsu Noh J Y, Takeuchi H, Yamaguchi K, Kameyama T, Kobayashi K, et al. Clinicopathological features of 171 cases of primary thyroid lymphoma: a long-term study involving 24 553 patients with Hashimoto’s disease. Br J Haematol. 2011;153:236–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Pedersen RK, Pedersen NT. Primary non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the thyroid gland: a population based study. Histopathology. 1996;28:25.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Singer JA. Primary lymphoma of the thyroid. Am Surg. 1998;64:334–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Ansell SM, Grant CS, Habermann TM. Primary thyroid lymphoma. Semin Oncol. 1999;26:316–23.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Yokoyama J, Ito S, Ohba S, Fujimaki M, Sato E, Komatsu N, et al. Problems of primary T-cell lymphoma of thyroid: a case report. World J Surg Oncol. 2012;10:58–61.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Kim NR, Ko Y-H, Lee Y-D. Primary T-cell Lymphoma of the thyroid associated with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis histologically mimicking MALT-lymphoma. J Korean Med Sci. 2010;25:481–4.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Chen C, Yang Y, Jin L, Dong L, Zhang X, Xiang Y, et al. Primary thyroid T-lymphoblastic lymphoma: a case report and review of the literature. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2014;7(1):443–50.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Koida S, Tsukasaki K, Tsuchiya T, Harasawa H, Fukushima T, Yamada Y, et al. Primary T-cell lymphoma of the thyroid gland with chemokine receptors of Th1 phenotype complicating autoimmune thyroiditis. Haematologica. 2007;92:37–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Motoi N, Ozawa Y. Malignant T-cell lymphoma of the thyroid gland associated with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Pathol Int. 2005;55:425–30.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Dunbar JA, Lyall MH, MacGillivray JB, Potts RC. T-cell lymphoma of the thyroid. BMJ. 1977;2:679–81.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Abdul-Rahman ZH, Gogas HJ, Tooze JA, Anderson B, Mansi J, Sacks NP, Finlayson CJ. T-cell lymphoma in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Histopathology. 1996;29:455–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Yamaguchi M, Ohno T, Kita K. γ/δ Tcell lymphoma of the thyroid gland. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:1391–2.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Mizukami Y, Michigishi T, Nonomura A, Nakamura S, Hashimoto T, Katsuda S, et al. Primary lymphoma of the thyroid: a clinical, histological and immunohistochemical study of 20 cases. Histopathology. 1990;17:201–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Haciyanli M, Erkan N, Yorukoglu K, Sagol O, Harmancioglu O. Primary non-Hodgkin’s T-cell lymphoma of the thyroid gland complicating Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: a case report. Thyroid. 2000;10:717–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Sun TQ, Zhu XL, Wang ZY, et al. Characteristics and prognosis of primary thyroid non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Chinese patients. J Surg Oncol. 2010;101:545.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Forconi F, Bocchia M, Marconcini S, Bigazzi C, Milani M, Fraternali-Orcioni G, Lauria F. CD30 positive (nonanaplastic) peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the thyroid gland. Haematologica. 1999;84:946–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Freeman HJ. T-cell lymphoma of the thyroid gland in celiac disease. Can J Gastroenterol. 2000;14:635–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Raftpoulos I, Vanuno D, Kouraklis G. Two unusual sites of colon cancer metastases and rare thyroid arising in a background of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. J Clin Oncol. 2001;19:3576–80.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Coltrera MD. Primary T-cell lymphoma of the thyroid. Head Neck. 1999;21:160–3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Parell Yann, Chizollini Calo. CD4+ CD8+ double positive T-cells in health and disease. Autoimmun Rev. 2004;3:215–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors sincerely thank Ms. Mamta for her excellent technical support in carrying out PCR study in this case.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai, 400012, India

    Prabhashankar Mishra, Devmalya Banerjee & Sumeet Gujral

Authors
  1. Prabhashankar Mishra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Devmalya Banerjee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sumeet Gujral
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Prabhashankar Mishra.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mishra, P., Banerjee, D. & Gujral, S. T-cell Lymphoma of Thyroid Gland with Lennert Type of Morphology: A Case Report and Review of the Literature. Head and Neck Pathol 10, 321–326 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-016-0711-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-016-0711-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation