Carcinoma of the thyroid

• represents 1% of all cancers

• responsible for 0.2% of all cancer deaths, so if you have to get a cancer, get this one

• many are curable

  • papillary CA: 75-85%

  • follicular CA 10-20%

  • medullary CA 5%

• anaplastic CA < 5%

Papillary carcinoma

• most common type of thyroid CA

• can occur at any age, but common under age 59

• women > men

• 2% metastasis at time of Dx, yet overall 10 year survival

• you should know about this

• derived from follicular tissue, but these display papillae

• ground glass nuclei with “orphan Annie eyes”

Papillary carcinoma: psammoma bodies

• this, and orphan Annie eyes, are indicative of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas

Follicular carcinoma

• more aggressive than papillary type and occur less often

• vascular invasion of cancer

Medullary carcinoma

• neuroendocrine/C-cell CA

• painless thyroid mass in 50- to 60-year-olds

• may present with paraneoplastic syndromes

• may occur sporadically or as a part of multiple endocrine neoplastic syndrome

Anaplastic carcinioma

• aggressive tumor that affects older people

• death within two years, in stark contrast to papillary carcinoma

• a large infiltrative mass

Category: Pathology Notes