Primary malignant lymphomas of the thyroid. A brief review.
Primary lymphoma of the thyroid is a rare disease, occurring predominantly in elderly women but it is more and more reported in younger generation and this seems to reduce the female preponderance. Clinically it is characterized by a rapid and diffuse enlargement of the thyroid with hoarseness, dysphagia and local tenderness. There is a frequent coexistence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis with presence of autoantibodies. This latter disease has to be considered as a prelymphomatous condition. The differential diagnosis between the two is not always easy. The new functional classification of non hodgkin's lymphomas can be applied successfully in primary lymphomas of the thyroid: they allow to establish a prognosis and demonstrate that most of these lymphomas are B-cell derived and of follicular center cell origin. The diagnosis can be made by means of a biopsy and sometimes by fine needle aspiration.
Heimann
R
R
Service d'Anatomie Pathologique, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique.
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010954:Plasmacytoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*