title: Ectopic submandibular thyroid tissue with a coexisting normally located multinodular goitre: case report and review of the literature.
abstract: The simultaneous finding of submandibular ectopic thyroid tissue and functional orthotopic thyroid gland is an extremely rare event. The present report describes the case of a woman presenting with a left submandibular mass, distant from a palpable multinodular goitre. Ultrasonography showed an ovoidal solid mass adjacent to the lower margin of the left submandibular gland. Cytological specimens showed colloid material and thyroid follicular cells with no malignant features. A preoperative CT scan demonstrated a very thin connection between the thyroid and the submandibular mass. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy and excision of the submandibular mass. The histopathological diagnosis of the thyroid tissue was multinodular goitre, and the submandibular mass was ectopic thyroid tissue showing a hyperplastic pattern. The main differential diagnosis of the submandibular mass was a metastasis from a well differentiated cancer. This case illustrates that an ectopic thyroid off the midline may not necessarily be a metastasis from a thyroid cancer.
authors.affiliation: University of Insubria, Clinical Medicine, Ospedale di Circolo, Viale Borri, 57, Varese, 21100, Italy.
authors.forename: Eliana
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piantanida
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Compri
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.forename: Ilaria Dalle
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Mule
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gandolfo
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liparulo
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sassi
authors.forename: Gianlorenzo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dionigi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: La Rosa
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papanikolaou
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neri
authors.forename: Patrizio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marnini
authors.forename: Maria Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Tanda
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bartalena