Rare Case of Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Thyroid Gland

Thyroid cancers (CA) account for about 0.4% of all CA deaths. It is thus very important to be able to determine the type of CA in view of the differing prognosis and possibility of the CA being a secondary from other glands like the Salivary gland.

Mucoepidermoid CA is an extremely rare form of Thyroid CA and not much is known about its origin, disease course and treatment. While some think it originates from the Salivary gland, others believe it comes from Ultimobrachial body cell nests. It seems to be slow growing but it also has some metastatic properties.

Generally, total thyroidectomy has been suggested as treatment due to lack of adequate information about the disease. The authors want to present a rare finding of Mucoepidermoid CA in a Thyroid lump.

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Rare Case of Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Thyroid Gland

Thyroid cancers (CA) account for about 0.4% of all CA deaths. It is thus very important to be able to determine the type of CA in view of the differing prognosis and possibility of the CA being a secondary from other glands like the Salivary gland.

Mucoepidermoid CA is an extremely rare form of Thyroid CA and not much is known about its origin, disease course and treatment. While some think it originates from the Salivary gland, others believe it comes from Ultimobrachial body cell nests.

It seems to be slow growing but it also has some metastatic properties. Generally, total thyroidectomy has been suggested as treatment due to lack of adequate information about the disease. The authors want to present a rare finding of Mucoepidermoid CA in a Thyroid lump.

PDF LINK

Rare Case of Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Thyroid Gland

Thyroid cancers (CA) account for about 0.4% of all CA deaths. It is thus very important to be able to determine the type of CA in view of the differing prognosis and possibility of the CA being a secondary from other glands like the Salivary gland.

Mucoepidermoid CA is an extremely rare form of Thyroid CA and not much is known about its origin, disease course and treatment. While some think it originates from the Salivary gland, others believe it comes from Ultimobrachial body cell nests. It seems to be slow growing but it also has some metastatic properties.

Generally, total thyroidectomy has been suggested as treatment due to lack of adequate information about the disease. The authors want to present a rare finding of Mucoepidermoid CA in a Thyroid lump.

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Rare Case of Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Thyroid Gland

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is an extremely rare form of carcinoma (CA). It most commonly occurs in the salivary glands but has also been reported in the respiratory tract, esophagus, breast, pancreas, genitals, anus, lips, mandible and rarely in the thyroid.

Origin of MEC is unknown but its thought to originate from solid cell nests coming from Ultimobranchial body. However, some authors believe it to be of salivary duct epithelial origin, making up 3% - 9% of all salivary gland tumor’s and about 30% of all malignant salivary gland tumor’s and also occur in 60% - 70% of tumor’s in the parotid gland.

In any case, it rarely occurs in the thyroid. Thyroid MEC have been reported very few times in literature but the cytological properties of MEC seem to be consistent despite the organ of origin5. They are mostly slow growing tumors but are known to show aggressive behavior in a few cases. We wish to present a case of MEC that occurred in a patient with Thyroid lump.

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