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Poorly Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma

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Encyclopedia of Pathology

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

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Synonyms

High-risk thyroid carcinoma of follicular cell origin; Insular carcinoma; Poorly differentiated carcinoma with a primordial cell component; Poorly differentiated follicular carcinoma; Poorly differentiated papillary carcinoma; Solid-type follicular carcinoma; Trabecular carcinoma

Definition

Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC) is a malignant follicular-cell neoplasm that shows limited evidence of structural follicular cell differentiation and occupies both morphologically and behaviorally an intermediate position between differentiated (follicular and papillary carcinomas) and undifferentiated (anaplastic) carcinoma. The diagnostic histopathologic criteria are those outlined in the Turin consensus criteria (Fig. 1) (Volante et al. 2007).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Criteria for the diagnosis of poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma. FTC: follicular thyroid carcinoma; PTC: papillary thyroid carcinoma; HPF: high power field; 50 random mitotic counts average per 10 HPF X400 in areas with...

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References and Further Reading

  • Asioli, S., Erickson, L. A., Righi, A., Jin, L., Volante, M., Jenkins, S., Papotti, M., Bussolati, G., & Lloyd, R. V. (2010). Poorly differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid: Validation of the Turin proposal and analysis of IMP3 expression. Modern Pathology, 23, 1269–1278.

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  • Carcangiu, M. L., Zampi, G., & Rosai, J. (1984). Poorly differentiated (“insular”) thyroid carcinoma. A reinterpretation of Langhans’ “wuchernde Struma”. The American Journal of Surgical Pathology, 8(9), 655–668.

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  • Chernock, R. D., Rivera, B., Borrelli, N., Hill, D. A., Fahiminiya, S., Shah, T., Chong, A. S., Aqil, B., Mehrad, M., Giordano, T. J., Sheridan, R., Rutter, M. M., Dehner, L. P., Foulkes, W. D., & Nikiforov, Y. E. (2020). Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma of childhood and adolescence: A distinct entity characterized by DICER1 mutations. Modern Pathology, 33(7), 1264–1274.

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  • Gnemmi, V., Renaud, F., Do Cao, C., Salleron, J., Lion, G., Wemeau, J. L., Copin, M. C., Carnaille, B., Leteurtre, E., Pattou, F., & Aubert, S. (2014). Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas: Application of the Turin proposal provides prognostic results similar to those from the assessment of high-grade features. Histopathology, 64(2), 263–273.

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  • Hiltzik, D., Carlson, D. L., Tuttle, R. M., Chuai, S., Ishill, N., Shaha, A., Shah, J. P., Singh, B., & Ghossein, R. A. (2006). Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas defined on the basis of mitosis and necrosis: A clinicopathologic study of 58 patients. Cancer, 106(6), 1286–1295.

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  • Ibrahimpasic, T., Ghossein, R., Carlson, D. L., Nixon, I., Palmer, F. L., Shaha, A. R., Patel, S. G., Tuttle, R. M., Shah, J. P., & Ganly, I. (2014). Outcomes in patients with poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 99(4), 1245–1252.

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  • Kakudo, K., Wakasa, T., Ohta, Y., Yane, K., Ito, Y., & Yamashita, H. (2015). Prognostic classification of thyroid follicular cell tumors using Ki-67 labeling index: Risk stratification of thyroid follicular cell carcinomas. Endocrine Journal, 62(1), 1–12.

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  • Landa, I., Ibrahimpasic, T., Boucai, L., Sinha, R., Knauf, J. A., Shah, R. H., Dogan, S., Ricarte-Filho, J. C., Krishnamoorthy, G. P., Xu, B., Schultz, N., Berger, M. F., Sander, C., Taylor, B. S., Ghossein, R., Ganly, I., & Fagin, J. A. (2016). Genomic and transcriptomic hallmarks of poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancers. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 126(3), 1052–1066.

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  • Tallini, G. (2011). Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Are we there yet? Endocrine Pathology, 22(4), 190–194.

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  • Tallini, G., Asioli, S., Aubert, S., Carcangiu, M. L., Chernock, R. D., Fellegara, G., Ghossein, A. A., Kakudo, K., LiVolsi, V., Lloyd, R. V., Matias-Guiu, X., Nikiforov, Y. E., Papotti, M., Perren, A., Rosai, J., & Sobrinho Simoes, M. (2017). Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma. In R. V. Lloyd, R. Y. Osamura, G. Klöppel, & J. Rosai (Eds.), WHO classification of tumours of endocrine organs (pp. 100–103). Lyon: IARC Press.

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  • Volante, M., Collini, P., Nikiforov, Y. E., Sakamoto, A., Kakudo, K., Katoh, R., Lloyd, R. V., LiVolsi, V. A., Papotti, M., Sobrinho-Simoes, M., Bussolati, G., & Rosai, J. (2007). Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma: The Turin proposal for the use of uniform diagnostic criteria and an algorithmic diagnostic approach. The American Journal of Surgical Pathology, 31(8), 1256–1264.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anatomic Pathology, University of Bologna School of Medicine, Bologna, Italy

    Giovanni Tallini & Antonio De Leo

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  1. Giovanni Tallini
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  2. Antonio De Leo
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Correspondence to Giovanni Tallini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands

    J.H.J.M. van Krieken

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Tallini, G., De Leo, A. (2021). Poorly Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5283-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5283-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28845-1

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