Lymph node, Metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma [LMP77124]

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Diagnostic Modality: 
Cytology
Disease Category: 
Neoplasia
Diagnosis: 
Metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma
Species: 
Human
Organ System: 
Endocrine System
Gender: 
Female
Age: 
69 years
Diagnosis Code: 
ICD-10: C77 | ICD-O: 8140/6
Slide Contributor Information
Starova, B., Latta, E.

Keywords

thyroid, papillary carcinoma, cytology

Clinical History

FNA cervical lymph node.

Clinical Discussion

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common thyroid malignancy. The peak onset age is between 20 to 50 years old and it tends to affect women more than men (3-4:1). Clinically, it manifests as a solitary solid nodule. Cervical lymph node involvement is present in more than 50% of the cases; however, this does not seem to affect prognosis and the overall survival is close to 100%.

Grossly, the lesions can be well encapsulated or infiltrative with a solid white appearance and variable cystic degeneration and/or calcifications. Histologically (and cytologically), they are defined on the basis of their nuclear features which include: enlargement, crowding/overlapping, nuclear membrane thickening and irregularities/grooves, powdery chromatin, and pseudoinclusions (secondary to invagination of the cytoplasm in the nucleus). Psammoma bodies can be seen but are not specific. True papillary structures (tumour cells arranged around a fibrovascular core) are only present in the classic variant of PTC.