Approach to primary thyroid lymphoma: case series

Primary thyroid lymphomas are rare thyroid neoplasms. Mucosa Associated Lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma are the most common types. It is more common in the elderly, and especially in women. Patients usually present with a rapidly growing mass in the neck. This article aimed to present the epidemiological features, treatment and prognostic factors of thyroid lymphomas by retrospectively reviewing 4 patients with thyroid lymphoma. Four patients were treated for primary thyroid lymphoma, two of whom were women and two were men, with a mean age of 63.7 (51-74) years. Common complaint of those patients was the sudden swelling of the neck. Two patients were diagnosed with fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and the other two patients were diagnosed with surgical excision. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy were applied to all four patients. While one patient died in the second year of follow-up, the other three patients are still being followed. Primary thyroid lymphomas are not aggressive tumors, and the most effective treatment is radiotherapy.