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Thyroglossal duct cyst (TDC) is a developmental anomaly that usually appears in early childhood. The common presentation is midline swelling of the neck, which moves with both tongue protrusion and deglutition. Diagnosis is usually clinical and radiological. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) can be used as a tool for the exclusion of malignancy in adult patients. In some cases thyroid scan is done to rule out the presence or absence of the normal thyroid gland. A complete work-up is mandatory before cyst removal given that it contains only thyroid tissue. We report the case of a 32-year-old woman with only thyroid tissue in thyroglossal duct cyst.

Benzylic rearrangement stable isotope labeling (BRSIL) was explored to quantify the guanidino and ureido compounds (GCs and UCs). This method employed a common reagent, benzil, to label the guanidino and ureido groups through nucleophilic attacking then benzylic migrating. The use of BRSIL was investigated in the analysis of five GCs (creatine, l -arginine, homoarginine, 4-guanidinobutyric acid, and methylguanidine) and two UCs (urea and citrulline). The labeling was found simple and specific. The introduction of bi-phenyl group and the generation of nitrogen heterocyclic ring in the benzil- d0/d 5 labeled GCs and UCs improved the retention behaviors in liquid chromatography (LC) and increased the sensitivity of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS) detection. The fragment ion pairs of m/z 182/187 and m/z 210/215 from the benzil- d0/d5 tags facilitated the discovery of potential GCs and UCs candidates residing in biological matrices. The use of BRSIL combined with LC-ESI MS was applied for simultaneously quantitation of GCs and UCs in thyroid tissues. It was demonstrated that nine GCs and UCs were detected, six of which were further quantified based on corresponding standards. It was concluded that five GCs and UCs ( l -arginine, homoarginine, 4-guanidinobutyric acid, methylguanidine, and citrulline) were statistically significantly different ( p < 0.05) between the para-carcinoma and carcinoma thyroid tissue samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-needle aspiration cytology is the standard technique to diagnose thyroid pathologies. However, this method results in a high percentage of inconclusive and false negatives. The use of time-resolved fluorescence techniques to detect biochemical composition and tissue structure alterations could help to develop a portable, minimally invasive, and nondestructive method to assist during surgical procedures. This study aimed to use fluorescence lifetimes to differentiate healthy and benign tissues from malignant thyroid tissue. The thyroid tissue was excited at 298-300 nm and the fluorescence decay registered at 340 and 450 nm. We observed fluorescence lifetimes at 340 nm emission of 0.80 ± 0.26 and 3.94 ± 0.47 ns for healthy tissue; 0.90 ± 0.24 and 4.05 ± 0.46 ns for benign lesions; and 1.21 ± 0.14 and 4.63 ± 0.25 ns for malignant lesions. For 450 nm emissions, we obtain lifetimes of 0.25 ± 0.18 and 3.99 ± 0.39 ns for healthy tissue, 0.24 ± 0.17 and 4.20 ± 0.48 ns for benign lesions, 0.33 ± 0.32 and 4.55 ± 0.55 ns for malignant lesions. Employing analysis of variance, we differentiate malignant lesions from benign and healthy tissues. In addition, we use quadratic discriminant analysis to distinguish malignant from benign and healthy tissues with an accuracy of 76.1%, sensitivity of 74.7%, and specificity of 83.3%. These results indicate that time-resolved fluorescence can assist medical evaluation of thyroid pathologies during surgeries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-needle aspiration cytology is the standard technique to diagnose thyroid pathologies. However, this method has a high percentage of inconclusive and false-negative results for benign and malignant lesions. Hence, it is important to search for a new method to assist medical evaluation during these surgical procedures. The use of time-resolved fluorescence techniques to detect biochemical composition and tissue structure alterations could help to develop a portable, minimally invasive, and non-destructive method to assist medical evaluation. In this study, we investigated 17 human thyroid samples by absorbance, fluorescence, excitation, and time-resolved fluorescence measurements. This initial investigation has demonstrated that thyroid fluorescence originates from many endogenous fluorophores and culminates in several bands. The fluorescence lifetimes of benign and malignant lesions were significantly different, as attested by analysis of variance using Tukey test with individual confidence level of 98.06 %. Our results suggest that fluorescence lifetimes of benign and malignant lesions can potentially assist diagnosis. After further investigations, fluorescence methods could become a tool for the surgeon to identify differences between normal and pathological thyroid tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Struma ovarii is a highly specialized form of ovarian teratoma, characterized by the presence- entirely or predominantly- of mature thyroid tissue. Its most important complications, although rare, are malignant transformation and thyrotoxicosis. In the present 'case report' we describe a case of a 25 year old married woman that seeks medical advice for recurrent lower abdominal discomfort. The diagnosis of complex ovarian cyst confirmed by ultrasound examination of the abdomen, the operative findings were multilocular ovarian cyst treated by oophrectomy. The histological examination demonstrated typical elements of mature thyroid tissue that confirmed the diagnosis of struma ovarii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subcutaneous implantation of thyroid tissue is a rare clinical condition that involves the head and neck region and occurs after surgery, diagnostic procedures or cervical trauma. A 90-year old woman with two skin nodules on her thyroidectomy scar was hospitalized and treated by two surgical excisions. Histologically, these lesions were two aggregates of cutaneous oncocytic thyroid cells. In the patient's clinical history there was a total thyroidectomy for multinodular goiter, performed 9 years previously and at which a well-encapsulated subcapsular oncocytic adenoma of the left lobe was also incidentally discovered. At 12 months of follow-up, the patient is showed well and her wounds healed. Subcutaneous colonization or seeding of thyroid tissue is a rare occurrence reported in the literature for both benign and malignant pathologies; among the malignant ones, the implantation of follicular carcinoma cells is the most frequent. Only in one previous case, to our knowledge, subcutaneous colonization originating from oncocytic thyroid (or Hurthle) cell neoplasms has been described. We report an unusual case of double subcutaneous implantation of oncocytic thyroid cells on the cervical scar of an elderly woman, nine years after total thyroidectomy. • Subcutaneous implantation thyroid tissue is a rare event. • It can occur as a result of after surgical or diagnostic procedures or cervical trauma. • There are reports regarding the implantation of both benign/malignant pathologies. • This is the second case of subcutaneous implantation of Hurthle thyroid cells. • It is occurred on the cervical scar, nine years after thyroidectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-thyroxine (T4) immunostaining in the endostyle and thyroid tissue during metamorphosis of sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus suggested that T4 synthesis occurs on the luminal surface of the apical membrane of selected cells of the endostyle, and that a ‘classical’ endocrine thyroid function was only evident in post-transformed animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature pertaining to the prevalence and histopathology of endocrine cell and tissue tumours and related lesions (TRL) in bony and cartilaginous fishes is catalogued and reviewed in the context of the embryological origin of the various components of the endocrine system. Reports of TRLs of endocrine cells or tissues of fishes are relatively rare, and of these, most describe thyroid neoplasms that appear to be simple hyperplasia. The vast majority of published reports of endocrine TRLs in fishes are case-studies, and thus, with a few notable exceptions, the aetiology of the lesions is unknown. The exceptions include the epizootics of thyroid neoplasms in introduced Pacific salmon in the Great Lakes, which appear to have an environmental aetiology, and epizootics of gonadal stromal cell neoplasms. The latter were all found in either hybrid species or highly inbred captive strains of fishes, suggesting a genetic involvement in the tumourigenesis. The possible aetiologies for the reported TRLs in wild and captive fish species are discussed, and various hypotheses proposing infectious agents, genetic factors and environmental contaminants are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, thyroid pathologies occurred among children in some regions of Belarus. Besides the irradiation of children’s thyroids by radioactive iodine and caesium nuclides, toxic elements from fallout are a direct risk to health. Inductively coupled plasma quadrupole-based mass spectrometry was used for multielement determination in small amounts (1–10 mg) of thyroid tissue samples obtained during thyroid operations in Minsk hospitals. The accuracy of the applied analytical technique for small biological sample amounts was checked using NIST Standard Reference Material oyster tissue (SRM 1566b) and by comparison with independent analytical methods, such as neutron activation analysis. Almost all essential elements as well as a number of toxic elements such as Cd, Pb, Hg, U etc. were determined in a multitude of human and animal thyroid tissues (up to 1 mg sample material) by quadrupole-based ICP-MS using micronebulization. In general, the thyroid tissue affected by pathology is characterized by higher calcium content. Some other elements, among them Fe, Mn, V, As, Cr, Ni, Pb, U, Ba, Sb, were also accumulated in such tissue. The results obtained will be used as initial material for further specific studies of the role of particular elements in thyroid pathology development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid cancer's incidence has increased in the last decades, and its diagnosis can be a challenge. Further and complementary testing based in biochemical alterations may be important to correctly identify thyroid cancer and prevent unnecessary surgery. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a metabolomic technique that has already shown promising results in cancer metabolome analysis of neoplastic thyroid tissue, in the identification and classification of prostate tumor tissues and of breast carcinoma, among others. This work aims to gather and discuss published information on the ability of FTIR spectroscopy to be used in metabolomic studies of the thyroid, including discriminating between benign and malignant thyroid samples and grading and classifying different types of thyroid tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levels of mRNA for neurotrophins (brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF; neurotrophin 3, NT-3; neurotrophin 4, NT-4) and their receptors ( trkA, trkB, trkC) and for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its receptors ( ret, GDNFR-α) were measured in rat thyroid tissue by ribonuclease protection assays. In thyroid tissue the NT-3 mRNA level was threefold lower and the NT-4 mRNA level sixfold higher than those detected in adult rat hippocampus, while BDNF mRNA was undetectable. Very low levels of mRNA for truncated trkB and trkC receptors and no catalytic trkA, trkB or trkC were found. In conclusion NT-3 and NT-4, but not the corresponding functional receptors, are expressed in the thyroid tissue. Therefore, it is unlikely that these factors serve a direct local autocrine or paracrine function in thyroid cell types, and a target-derived mode of action on neurons innervating the thyroid tissue is suggested. An opposite result has been found for the neurotrophic factor GDNF: thyroid tissue showed a high level of transcripts for the GDNF receptor subunits (GDNFR-α and Ret), while GDNF mRNA was undetectable. The in situ hybridization analysis of GDNFR-α and ret mRNA revealed an interesting difference in the cell distribution of these transcripts: ret mRNA is selectively expressed in a subpopulation of cells scattered in the follicular epithelium and in the interfollicular spaces, while GDNFR-α expression is more homogeneous and widespread, including the more abundant cell type of the thyroid gland: the follicular cell. Double-labeling in situ hybridization/immunocytochemistry experiments, with a specific marker (calcitonin), showed that parafollicular cells express ret but not GDNFR-α. This differential distribution of the GDNF receptor components (GDNFR-α and ret) may reflect a peculiar biological role in intercellular communication in the thyroid gland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroglossal duct cyst (TDC) is a developmental anomaly that usually appears in early childhood. The common presentation is midline swelling of the neck, which moves with both tongue protrusion and deglutition. Diagnosis is usually clinical and radiological. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) can be used as a tool for the exclusion of malignancy in adult patients. In some cases thyroid scan is done to rule out the presence or absence of the normal thyroid gland. A complete work-up is mandatory before cyst removal given that it contains only thyroid tissue. We report the case of a 32-year-old woman with only thyroid tissue in thyroglossal duct cyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mediastinal ectopic goiter is a thyroid tumor that lies entirely below a plane extending from the superior surface of the first thoracic vertebra to the suprasternal notch, and commonly lies in the vicinity of the thymus. Intrapericardial ectopic goiter is extremely rare. We present an extremely rare case of a 63-year-old woman with an intrapericardial ectopic goiter and review the pertinent literature.