Abstract
Melanotic medullary carcinoma is extremely rare. We described a 35-year-old man who was found swelling in the left neck accidently, and no clinic evidences. A left total and right subtotal thyroidectomy and neck lymph nodes dissection were done. Lymph nodes metastasis was not shown. Postoperative of four months, computerized tomography scan liver showed multiple focal lesion. Microscopic examination showed that abundant melanin pigmentation was observed in many of tumor cells. Tumor cells were diffusely immunopositive for vimentin, CK, CgA, syn, CEA, Calcitonin, HMB45, S-100 and negative for TG, TTF-1. Melanotic medullary carcinoma is very rare. It is necessary to report more cases for exact biological behavior and prognosis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hazard JB, Hawk WA, Crile G Jr. Medullary (solid) carcinoma of the thyroid; a clinicopathologic entity. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol, 1959, 19: 152–161.
Uribe M, Grimes M, Fenoglio-Preisser C, et al. Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland: clinical, pathological and immunohistochemical features with review of literature. Am J Surg Pathol, 1985, 9: 577–594.
Beerman H, Rigaud C, Bogomoletz WV, et al. Melanin production in black medullary thyroid carcinoma. Histopathology, 1990, 16: 227–233.
Marcus JN, Dise CA, LiVolsi VA. Melanin production in a medullary thyroid carcinoma. Cancer, 1982, 49: 2518–2526.
Singh ZN, Ray R, Kumar N, et al. Medullary thyroid carcinoma with melanin production—a case report. Indian J Pathol Microbiol, 1999, 42: 159–163.
Posen JA, Adamthwaite DN, Greeff H. Melanin-producing medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland. A case report. S Afr Med J, 1984, 65: 57–59.
Eng HL, Chen WJ. Melanin-producing medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland. Arch Pathol Lab Med, 1989, 113: 377–380.
Kimura N, Ishioka K, Miura Y, et al. Melanin-producing medullary thyroid carcinoma with glandular differentiation. Acta Cytol, 1989, 33: 61–66.
Shimaoka K, Sokal JE, Pickren JW. Metastatic neoplasms in the thyroid gland. Pathological and clinical findings. Cancer, 1962, 15: 557–565.
Perry MD, Gore M, Seigler HF, et al. Fine needle aspiration of meta-static melanoma:a morphologic analysis of 174 cases. Acta Cytol, 1986, 30: 385–396.
de Micco C, Chapel F, Dor AM, et al. Thyroglobulin in medullary thyroid carcinoma: immunohistochemical study with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Hum Pathol, 1993, 24: 256–262.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qin, G., Ji, X. Melanotic medullary carcinoma of thyroid: a case report. Chin. -Ger. J. Clin. Oncol. 9, 677–679 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10330-010-0683-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10330-010-0683-5