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Thyroid Cancer

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Diagnostic Molecular Pathology in Practice

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Abstract

A 75-year-old male complained of three weeks of dyspnea and a small lump in the back of his left neck. The patient’s history was notable for coronary artery disease, treated with coronary artery bypass surgery two years ago, and a papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) diagnosed 25 years ago and treated with a total thyroidectomy. The patient had also had a slowly growing lung metastasis from the papillary carcinoma that was treated with partial lung lobectomy 10 years ago. Other history included prostatic carcinoma diagnosed 15 years ago, treated with prostatectomy and local radiation. Clinically, the patient had been followed with serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which had been slowly rising over the previous year. The patient had a remote history of smoking occasionally but had quit smoking in his late twenties. A combined CT and PET scan demonstrated high uptake in the posterior neck lesion and revealed additional lesions with high metabolic uptake in the hilum of the left lung, left pelvis, and abdominal para-aortic lymph nodes. A diagnostic bronchoscopy was performed, and on examination, an endobronchial lesion in the left middle lobe bronchus was discovered, with compression of the bronchus intermedius.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard Medical School, Center for Advanced Molecular Diagnostics (CAMD), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Matija Snuderl

  2. Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, Warren 202, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Jennifer L. Hunt

Authors
  1. Matija Snuderl
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  2. Jennifer L. Hunt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer L. Hunt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Pasteur Drive 300, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Iris Schrijver

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Snuderl, M., Hunt, J.L. (2011). Thyroid Cancer. In: Schrijver, I. (eds) Diagnostic Molecular Pathology in Practice. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19677-5_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19677-5_24

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-19676-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-19677-5

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