Abstract
A healthy 27-year-old man with a lump in the lateral midneck was examined. Results of a recent biopsy performed elsewhere indicated amelanotic melanoma. A careful search for a primary integumentary or upper respiratory site of origin, including appropriate roentgenograms and a thyroid scan, was negative.
At right radical neck dissection, the pathologic diagnosis was expanded to include anaplastic carcinoma. Subsequent examinations of the head and neck were negative. The neck and upper aerodigestive system were subjected to a full course of radiotherapy.
Pathologic study of this tumor was continued. Electron microscopy indicated the tumor was epithelial, possibly of glandular epithelial origin.
A tumor nodule reappeared in the right tracheoesophageal groove. Surgery was performed and the nodule was removed. The right thyroid lobe was removed also and submitted for histopathologic study. A solitary microscopic tumor focus, presumably anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, was found within the thyroid. Further pathologic studies were undertaken. Eventually, amyloid deposits were discovered, and a final diagnosis of cellular medullary thyroid carcinoma was established. Further studies of this patient and his family for multiple endocrine adenoma have been negative.
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