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Cervical chordoma masquerading as a thyroid neoplasm: A case report
Author(s) -
Saqi Anjali,
LiVolsi Virginia,
Mandel Susan J.,
Baloch Zubair
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
diagnostic cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1097-0339
pISSN - 8755-1039
DOI - 10.1002/dc.20230
Subject(s) - medicine , chordoma , pathology , thyroglobulin , differential diagnosis , thyroid , thyroid carcinoma , eosinophilic , thyroid neoplasm , cytopathology , pleomorphism (cytology) , fine needle aspiration , biopsy , cytology , immunohistochemistry
Chordomas are rare neoplasms of notochord derivation that arise along the craniospinal axis. Their incidence along the cervical spine and close proximity to the thyroid can pose diagnostic pitfalls. We report a case of a paraspinal mass juxtaposed adjacent to the thyroid with intranuclear inclusions of papillary carcinoma, abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm of an oncocytic lesion, and pleomorphism of anaplastic carcinoma that expressed thyroglobulin and emulated a malignant thyroid neoplasm. However, subsequent histological examination revealed a chordoma with perithyroidal soft‐tissue invasion. This case highlights the significance of including chordoma in the differential diagnosis of a thyroid neoplasm and interpreting thyroglobulin reactivity warily, because its inadvertent tracking during fine‐needle aspirates (FNAs) can produce false positive staining of nonthyroidal cells. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2005;32:296–298. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.