Mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma of the thyroid. Immunohistochemical and electron microscopic studies

A case of mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma of the thyroid is reported. Grossly, the tumor was a solid, grayish-white, well circumscribed mass without lymph node metastasis. Microscopically, the tumor showed both medullary and follicular areas. The follicular areas occupied discrete portions of the tumor, and were considered to be neoplastic. Tumor cells in the medullary area were polyhedral or spindle-shaped. There was no amyloid deposition within the tumor. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells in the medullary area were positive for calcitonin and negative for thyroglobulin. Some cells lining the follicles were positive for thyroglobulin. By electron microscopy, two types of tumor cell were observed. One type contained numerous cytoplasmic secretory granules, whereas the other type had few granules and showed a prominent rough endoplasmic reticulum. These findings suggested that this mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma of the thyroid presented neoplastic changes within a common cell lineage.