A low-grade follicular thyroid carcinoma in a woman with Down syndrome

Analysis of a thyroid neoplasm in a person with Down syndrome.

Report of a case and review of the literature.

A 34-year-old woman with Down syndrome developed a right thyroid low-grade follicular carcinoma. She is alive 20 years after the discovery of the initial tumor. A review of the literature including epidemiological studies revealed only one unspecified cancer, one papillary carcinoma and one lymphoma. Persons with Down syndrome present an excess of goiter and thyroiditis and often are overweight and have low serum selenium, all these conditions being risk factors for thyroid carcinomas.

Thyroid malignant neoplasms are very rare in persons with Down syndrome. We suspect that some constitutional, hormonal and genetic factors could protect these subjects against thyroid carcinoma.