title: Sonographic appearance of primary thyroid lymphoma-preliminary experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) is an uncommon thyroid malignancy. Despite the rarity of PTL, it is important to recognize PTL promptly because its management differs from that of all the other thyroid neoplasms. This study was designed to investigate the sonographic features of PTL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven pathologically confirmed PTLs were categorized into diffuse and non-diffuse type. Sonographic features including thyroid size, thyroid background echotexture, lesion size, echogenecity, calcification, vascularity, cervical lymphadenopathy of each type were retrospectively analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 27 PTLs were diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and were accompanied by diffuse Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Ten were diffuse type and seventeen were non-diffuse type sonographically. The observations in diffuse group included goiter (10/10, 100.0%), marked echogenesity (10/10, 100.0%), heterogeneous echotexture (10/10, 100.0%), and cervical lymphadenopathy (4/10, 40.0%). The observations in non-diffuse group included marked hypoechogenicity (17/17, 100.0%), heterogeneous background thyroid gland (17/17, 100.0%), goiter (15/17, 88.2%), increased vascularity (8/13, 61.5%), mulifocality (10/17, 58.8%), and cervical lymphadenopathy (7/17, 41.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although some common features were found, the sonographic appearance of PTL is unspecific, especially for the diffuse type. Therefore, interventional diagnostic procedures should be warranted in the clinical settings when PTL is suspected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography