A case of submandibular malignant rhabdoid tumor transformed from papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Malignant rhabdoid tumor (MRT) in the neck region is very rare. We report a case of MRT in a 60-year-old woman who had a history of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland 7 years previously. One year before admission, in 1995, thyroid carcinoma recurred, and the tumor contained a small undifferentiated region with rhabdoid features. The tumor in 1996 consisted of round to oval rhabdoid cells with abundant cytoplasm, and the growth pattern was diffuse and infiltrative, with no papillary structures. We therefore concluded that the lesion was MRT, transformed from papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma with rhabdoid phenotype: A diagnostic dilemma—Report of a rare case

“…There are few case reports of thyroid tumors with rhabdoid phenotype [8][9][10][11][12], and this case is the ninth in the literature presenting with rhabdoid morphology. Of the eight reported cases, five showed follicular differentiation in the better differentiated areas, while three showed papillary areas, indicating that the rhabdoid differentiation was part of either follicular or papillary carcinoma of thyroid.…”

“…The tumors reported until now have been variably designated as poorly differentiated follicular thyroid carcinoma with rhabdoid phenotype [10], variant of anaplastic carcinoma [11], well-differentiated follicular thyroid carcinoma with rhabdoid phenotype [8], and malignant rhabdoid tumor transformed from papillary carcinoma [9]; but all of them showed differen- tiated areas. The histogenesis of rhabdoid differentiation in a well-differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid is not known, but this phenotype denotes a sinister outcome, and more cases are needed to exactly categorize this variant.…”

“…Since then, this aggressive neoplasm has been recognized as a phenotypic expression of many neoplasms [4][5][6][7] occurring in various extrarenal sites. Subsequently, eight cases of thyroid neoplasms with rhabdoid morphology have been reported in the literature [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], which include cases of poorly differentiated follicular carcinoma [5][6][7][8]10] and anaplastic carcinoma [9,11,12] of thyroid with rhabdoid phenotype. In the cases reported by Sumida et al [9] and Sato et al [12] the rhabdoid tumor was a component of anaplastic carcinoma, which apparently transformed from papillary thyroid carcinoma.…”

Anaplastic Transformation of Follicular Thyroid Cancer in the Lung, Liver, Bone, and Adrenal Gland

“…3,7) In these cases, development of anaplastic transformation ranged from 4 to 30 years after the primary diagnosis of DTC. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Therefore, it should be noted that anaplastic transformation can occur in metastatic sites even after long-term follow-up. …”

“…3). We recommended additional RAI lung, 5,6,[8][9][10][11] mandible, 12) submandibular space, 13) liver, 14) breast, 15) and shoulder. 16) These cases reported anaplastic transformation from PTC at distant metastatic sites with three exceptions.…”