Fine‐needle aspiration of Riedel's disease: Report of a case and review of the literature

Abstract

The cytomorphological features of a case of Riedel's thyroiditis (Riedel's disease) in a 37-yr-old woman are reviewed. The patient presented with a diffusely enlarged thyroid gland with extension to carotid and jugular vessels bilaterally. A fine-needle aspiration of the right lobe of the thyroid demonstrated moderate cellularity with fragments of fibrous tissue with bland spindle-shaped cells and myofibroblasts. The patient subsequently underwent a bilateral subtotal thyroidectomy with removal of two-thirds of both lobes of the thyroid. A frozen section diagnosis of Riedel's disease was later confirmed on paraffin sections. Here we describe the cytological findings of a case of Riedel's disease and provide some helpful clues in distinguishing it from other forms of thyroiditis such as fibrosing variant of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, subacute thyroiditis, or granulomatous thyroiditis and from malignancy with which it can be confused both clinically and cytologically.

Riedel thyroiditis: Fine needle aspiration findings of a rare entity

“…We have read with interest the case report and review of the literature on Riedel thyroiditis by Harigopal et al 1 We herein describe a case of Riedel thyroiditis which presented as a well-defined mass in the left lobe of the thyroid gland. Despite the lack of extrathyroidal extension on imaging, a diagnosis of Riedel thyroiditis was correctly favored on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) based on cytological features.…”

Atypical Presentation of Riedel’s Thyroiditis: Multifocal Nodular Fibrosis and Resolution with Levothyroxine

“…Our patient had a very high antimicrosomal antibody titre with overt hypothyroidism more in keeping with Hashimoto‘s thyroiditis. The fibrosing variant of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is characterised by destruction of thyroid architecture, follicular atrophy, epithelial metaplasia, and keloid-like fibroblasts [2,16]. In contrast to Riedel’s thyroiditis, this process is limited to the thyroid gland.…”

A case of Riedel’s thyroiditis with pleural and pericardial effusions

“…The diagnosis is not achieved most of the time by FNAB and usually a surgical biopsy is needed. However, there are a few reports declaring the diagnostic use of FNAB in RT [8,11].…”