Primary Thyroid Lymphoma: Diagnosis of Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Gene Rearrangement with Polymerase Chain Reaction in Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration

Abstract

We present a case of primary thyroid lymphoma coexisting with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in a 75-year-old woman in whom B-cell lymphoma was substantiated based on the findings of immunophenotyping and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) gene rearrangement in specimens that had been obtained by ultrasound (US)-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). The immunophenotyping technique showed A light chain restriction, and PCR-based assays showed a discrete narrow band, which was diagnostic for clonal B-cell proliferation. Analyses of PCR gene rearrangement in US-guided FNAB may be a useful ancillary technique to pathological findings for diagnosis of primary thyroid lymphoma, especially for differentiation between low-grade B-cell lymphomas and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.