[Hyperfunctioning follicular carcinoma of the thyroid. A case report]

A 76-year-old female patient with a large neck lump of 15-year duration, was accompanied by palpitation and tremor. The lump was 9 x 5cm in size and the lower half of it was not palpable because the lower pole was located in the mediastinum. Physical examination revealed two enlarged lymph nodes in the right supraclavicular area. Chest X-ray film showed a coin lesion in the right lung that seemed to be a metastasis. The patient was apparently thyrotoxic with elevated serum concentrations of 15.7 micrograms/dl thyroxin and 359 ng/dl triiodothyronine. A neck scintigraphy using 123Iodine showed a thyroid hot nodule in accordance with this lesion. A total thyroidectomy with a modified neck dissection was carried out. This was followed by 131Iodine therapy. Specimen of the primary lesion weighed 147 g. Pathology of this tumor was follicular carcinoma of the thyroid. The patient was doing well 14 months after surgery. In the literature, three cases of similar hyperfunctioning thyroid carcinoma have been reported, all of which had a large primary lesion. The histological features proved to be of follicular or papillofollicular type. The treatment in these cases was administration of an antithyroid drug followed by surgical removal.