Cases of mixed medullary-papillary carcinoma are rare and have not been classified by WHO. We report a 32yo patient who had a diagnosis on cytological analysis by fine needle biopsy as Hürthle cell neoplasm with probable metastases to cervical nodules, due to the presence of numerous isolated cells of an oxyphilic pattern. After total thyroidectomy, on histology, a mixed medullary-papillary carcinoma with oxyphilic differentiation was diagnosed based on the papillary arrangement with fibrovascular septa containing cells showing a predominant oxyphilic pattern, both in the thyroid nodule and in regional cervical lymph nodes. Amorphous material of amyloidal aspect, which stained positively for Congo red, accompanied by focal calcification, was observed, both in the primary tumors and in the metastases. Thyroglobulin was not immunostained in the cells obtained by fine needle aspiration biopsy, but was immunostained in histology fields, both in the thyroid nodules and in the metastases. The immunoreaction for calcitonin was predominant on cytologic analysis and in the hystologic exam of the primary tumor and metastases. Dual differentiation in thyroid neoplasms has been interpreted as indicative of a common stem cell origin. It has been reported that the ultimobranchial body in man contributes both with C-cells and follicular cells to the thyroid. Thus, a common stem cell could give rise to such a mixed medullary-papillary neoplasm.
Thyroid mixed tumor; Medullary thyroid carcinoma; Papillary thyroid carcinoma
