Riedel thyroiditis mimicking malignancy: a fatal surgical outcome

Riedel thyroiditis (RT) is a rare fibroinflammatory disorder that can mimic malignancy clinically and radiologically. We report an unusually extensive, ultimately fatal case and highlight its diagnostic and therapeutic lessons.

Case report of a 40-year-old man, with review of the clinical, imaging, histopathological and follow-up data, reported in accordance with the CARE guidelines.

The patient presented with a right cervicothoracic mass (64 × 45 × 115 mm) circumferentially encasing the common carotid, subclavian and innominate vessels with mediastinal extension. Three tissue procedures were non-diagnostic and FDG PET/CT showed intense uptake (SUVmax 8.15). Radical en bloc resection was undertaken because malignancy could not be excluded. The course was complicated by bilateral vocal-cord paralysis, Horner syndrome, mediastinitis, osteomyelitis and a tracheo-innominate fistula. Histology showed obliterative phlebitis, storiform fibrosis and 74 IgG4-positive plasma cells/HPF (IgG4:IgG 44%), confirming RT despite normal serum IgG4. The patient died of a recurrent tracheo-innominate fistula approximately 20 months postoperatively.

RT can mimic malignancy and, when radical surgery is undertaken for diagnostic uncertainty, may prove fatal. Adequate tissue sampling with IgG4 immunostaining is essential before contemplating radical surgery.