Intrathyroidal parathyroid carcinoma: a case report with clinical and histological findings

The chance of an intrathyroidal occurrence of a parathyroid gland
is about 1-3%. Among the causes of hyperparathyroidism, parathyroid
cases occur in less than 1% of patients. Here we present the case
of a 63 year old Saudi female suffering from an intrathryroidal
parathyroid carcinoma. The suspicion coming from the clinical
investigations that the removed tumor tissue may be a parathyroid
carcinoma could be confirmed by histology. Additionally
non-radioactive in situ hybridization to localize mRNA transcripts
for Cyclin D1 and immunohistochemical localization of Cyclin D1 was
performed. Although parathyroid adenoma and carcinoma have
disparate natural history, it can be difficult to differentiate
between the two entities. Clinical presentation, operative findings
may raise suspicion, but may not be conclusive especially if there
is no evidence of invasion or metastasis, especially if the gland
was intrathyroidal.