Thyroid follicles in the lateral position of the neck are usually thought to represent the metastasis of thyroid carcinoma. Here we present a case of a 28-year-old woman with accessory ectopic thyroid associated with Graves' disease. Despite a history of Graves' disease poorly controlled with large dose propylthiouracil she was found to be pregnant and artificial abortion was planned. Thyroid s...

It is not uncommon to encounter variations in the Thyroid gland during surgeries. Complete detailed anatomical variations in arterial and venous supply including the presence of ectopic glands is useful for diagnosis and prognosis of patients involved with thyroid disorders. With these facts we tried to evaluate the Anatomical and Morphological variations of the thyroid gland. The study was con...

We wish to report an unusual cause of chest pain and hemoptysis. A 62-year-old woman presented with persistent cough and mild substernal chest discomfort. She had previously noted one episode of blood-tinged sputum. Physical examination was completely normal. Initial laboratory data included a normal CBC, chest x-ray film, and sputum analysis. Bronchoscopy revealed the anterior midtrachea to be...

Departments of Endocrine Surgery, Pathology, Nuclear Medicine, and Internal Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital and Buddhist Tzu Chi University, Hualien. Received: 29 January 2001. Revised: 10 December 2001. Accepted: 5 February 2002. Reprint requests and correspondence to: Dr. Shih-Ming Huang, Department of Endocrine Surgery, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital and Tzu Chi University, 70...

INTRODUCTION The term ectopic thyroid refers to the presence of thyroid tissue located far from its usual anatomic placement and with no vascular connection to the main gland. The presence of swelling in atypical locations is diagnostically differentiated from other pathologies like pleomorphic adenoma or carcinoma, inflammatory lesions like sialadenitis, neurogenic tumors, paraganglioma, fibro...

Medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) constitute about 5 to 7 % of thyroid neoplasms. They originate from parafollicular C-cells which can secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and/or corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in abnormally high concentrations, potentially causing paraneoplastic Cushing's Syndrome (CS). We report on a 42-year-old male patient with a ten year history of metastatic m...

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) has been described as a source of ectopic ACTH secretion in patients with Cushing's syndrome. This is an infrequent association, occurring in less than 1% of MTC cases. Among these, it is even more unusual for an initial diagnosis of hypercortisolism to lead to the discovery of underlying MTC. Here we present a case of a patient with weakness, diarrhea, and hyp...

Ectopic production of CRH by a medullary thyroid carcinoma or its metastases is a rare cause of ectopic Cushing's syndrome (ECS). We report a 45-year old male with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), who, 24 years following the initial diagnosis, presented with clinical and biochemical evidence of an ACTH dependent Cushing's syndrome. Rapid deterioration of his clinical condition and elevated co...

A seventy-five-year-old male patient presented with a palpable smooth mass that moved upwards on swallowing, extending from the hyoid bone to the cricoid cartilage. Ultrasonography, scintigraphy, and thyroid hormone measurements showed the mass free from the thyroid gland. Following a diagnosis of infected thyroglossal duct cyst by fine needle aspiration biopsy, the mass was removed by surgery....

Intratracheal ectopic thyroid tissue is a rare abnormality that can cause airway obstruction. The symptoms can easily be confused with those of bronchial asthma. We describe the case of a 40-year-old man with subglottic thyroid tissue and multinodular goiter who had been misdiagnosed earlier with bronchial asthma. After the correct diagnosis was established, the lesion was excised via an extern...