A 79-year-old Taiwanese woman came to the otolaryngologic clinic of our hospital due to an enlarging painless mass over the right neck region in the past 3 months. She denied fever, night sweats, dyspnea, hoarseness, dysphagia, dysphasia, or stridor. On physical examination, the right thyroid lobe was noted to be enlarged and firm. There was a palpable mass in the front of her neck, which moved during swallowing. She had no history of Hashimoto's thyroiditis or cervical irradiation, and her thyroid function test was within the normal range (thyroid-stimulating hormone: 2.01 nIU/mL; free T4: 1.24 ng/dL; thyroglobulin: 1.62 ng/mL; anti-thyroperoxidase: 1.03 IU/mL; and thyroglobulin antibody: 1.81 IU/mL).\nThe patient had received computed tomography (CT) at hospital outside, which revealed a hypodense nodule with minimal enhancement on the right lobe of thyroid gland []. Its size was approximately 4.1 cm × 3.6 cm, with a longitudinal dimension of 4.5 cm. The trachea, vessels, and soft tissues in the right neck were under pressure and displaced toward the left side. She underwent fine-needle aspiration (FNA) at that hospital, and the cytologic results were suspicious of lymphoma.\nIn order to obtain more definite results, this woman was referred to the radiological department of our hospital for core needle biopsy. During core needle biopsy, the neck color Doppler ultrasound showed a large heterogeneous hypoechoic mass with an irregular border in the right lobe of thyroid gland. There were twisted and chaotic intranodular vessels, but no defined calcification, hemorrhage, or necrotic portion was observed within the mass, which exhibited indistinct margins and posterior acoustic enhancement [Figure and ]. The pathology revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). For staging the disease, a fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) scan was performed, revealing high-grade hypermetabolic lymphomatous disease, confined in the right thyroid gland, suggesting PTL Ann Arbor stage I [].\nAfter consulting oncology specialists, she started rituximab-based chemotherapy and received serial sonographic follow-up. After three cycles of rituximab plus bendamustine – rituximab (375 mg/m2) and bendamustine (Innomustine®, 90 mg/m2) by intravenous administration on day 1 were administered every 3 weeks for each cycle – neck color Doppler ultrasound showed a significant reduction of twisted blood flow signals in the PTL but no significant decrease (<25% extent) of the tumor size []. Therefore, chemotherapy regimen was adjusted to rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone (R–COP). After three cycles of R–COP, i.e., rituximab (375 mg/m2), cyclophosphamide (750 mg/m2), and vincristine (2 mg/m2) by intravenous administration on day 1 and prednisone (100 mg/m2) by oral administration on day 1–5 were administered every 3 weeks for each cycle, the PTL disappeared on the color Doppler and gray-scale ultrasonography []. The patient was treated with R–COP regimen until complete remission of the disease, confirmed on the following FDG PET-CT and whole-body PET examination [].
A 70-year-old male presented a rapidly expanding mass of the neck associated with history of airway compression symptoms; progressive dyspnea and dysphonia lasting for 4 weeks, in a context of apyrexia and impairment of general condition. The patient was admitted to the hospital because of increasing dyspnea and urgently received a tracheostomy.\nA biopsy of the cervical mass was carried out and the histological examination showed diffuse infiltration of the thyroid gland by a monotonous population of atypical intermediate-sized lymphoid cells (Fig. ). These last possess scanty amphophilic to basophilic cytoplasm with centrally located nuclei of irregular shape, displaying dispersed basophilic chromatin, and frequent apoptotic figures (Fig. ). Scattered tingible body type macrophages were also present. Little residual thyroid follicles and some areas of necrosis was observed.\nImmunohistochemical staining was then performed and the tumour cells were positive for CD20, CD10 and BCL6. Ki-67 showed proliferation index approaching 100 %. CD3 and CD5 stained the background T cells (Fig. ). Immunoreactivity for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was negative. The diagnosis of BL was confirmed on fluorescence in situ hybridisation that showed tumour cell positivity for the t (8; 14) translocation. Bone marrow examination was normal.\nThe patient was transferred to the Clinical Haematology department. On physical examination, he was apyretic and hemodynamically stable with a cervical armouring by a huge mass of hard consistency. Neurological examination shows no sensorimotor deficits.\nOther systemic examinations were normal, without any palpable lymphadenopathy or organomegaly.\nThe computerized tomography (CT) scan showed a heterogeneous process of the thyroid gland measuring 10.5 × 8.2 × 6.5 cm in size, extending up towards the laryngeal region, infiltrating the right vocal cord and reducing the laryngeal lumen (Fig. ).\nThe thoraco-abdominal CT scan showed no other localization.\nThe examination of the cephalorachidian liquid showed no central nervous system involvement. The patient was diagnosed with thyroidal Burkitt lymphoma, stage I of Murphy [].\nAfter cardiac, renal and liver functions assessment, the patient received chemotherapy according to the LMBA02 protocol [], group A (Age > 60 years, no CNS nor bone marrow involvement), with a first course of COP (Cyclophosphamide, Vincristine and Prednisone) and intrathecal Methotrexate, followed a week after by a course of R-COPADEM (Rituximab at day 0 and day 6, Cyclophosphamide day 2,3 and 4, Prednisone from day 1 to 5, Doxorubicineat day 2, high dose Methotrexate at day 1 with folic acid rescue from day 2 to day 6 and intrathecal chemotherapy at day 2 and day 6).\nAt day 15 of chemotherapy, the patient developed febrile neutropenia, refractory to broad-spectrum antibiotics and antifungals. The evolution was marked by the installation of a septic shock with acute respiratory distress syndrome that led to his transfer to intensive care unit where he was intubated and ventilated. The patient died 2 days after.