Well-Differentiated Lung Neuroendocrine Tumor Masquerading as Metastatic Medullary Thyroid Cancer

Typical carcinoid tumors, or low-grade neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), are a rare class of neoplasms that share histopathological characteristics with other NETs like medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). Here, we report an 85-year-old woman with a history of left hemithyroidectomy in the 1980s (pathology not available) and right-sided multinodular goiter biopsied as benign, initially misdiagnosed with metastatic MTC based on lung nodule biopsy staining for calcitonin. The lung nodule was surgically removed and shown to be a well-differentiated lung NET. This case demonstrates the diagnostic challenges of integrating cytopathological findings, such as calcitonin staining, with the overall clinical scenario to arrive at an accurate diagnosis.