[Multicentric papillary and follicular carcinomas of the thyroid]

A 63-year-old female, complaining of a swelling in the neck, was diagnosed as having a thyroid carcinoma. Thus, a subtotal thyroidectomy was performed, leaving a part of the right lobe. Two thyroid carcinomas were found in the left lobe, and one carcinoma in the right lobe with a right cervical lymph nodal involvement. Each carcinoma was small and encapsulated by thick fibrous tissue, but there was no continuity among them. The three carcinomas were regarded as being multicentric in origin, and not an intraglandular metastasis.