Liposarcoma of the Thyroid – a rare but vicious malignancy: Review of the Literature and reporting and including a new case

Introduction:

Liposarcomas of the thyroid gland are extremely rare. Hence, treating patients on an evidence-based level is difficult. In this study we analyse clinical and histopathological features of reported primary liposarcomas of the thyroid gland. We included the case of an 82-year-old female diagnosed with primary liposarcoma of the thyroid at our institution.

Methods:

Screening Pubmed and Ovid databases we found 12 reported cases of primary thyroid liposarcomas. Including the primary liposarcoma case mentioned above we analysed 13 cases. We used Excel (Microsoft Office 2016) for the evaluation of frequencies of categorical variables as well as analysis of continuous variables.

Results:

The 13 analysed cases did not show geographical clustering with a mean age of 58.42 ± 15.99 years. All patients presented with a rapidly enlarging swelling of the neck (n = 13). In five cases surrounding structures had been infiltrated. Distant metastases were found in four patients. Overall, the liposarcomas showed various histological entities. All reported liposarcomas were surgically removed, n = 7 received adjuvant therapy. Five patients died after the initial presentation, five patients were free of recurrent disease in the follow-up and on patient showed recurrent disease.

Conclusion:

Unlike angiosarcomas of the thyroid, liposarcomas do not show a geographical clustering. Consistently, no relevant association with iodine-deficient goiter was seen in liposarcoma patients. Histologically, well-differentiated liposarcomas hardly differ from benign lipomatoic tumors. Therefore further analyses such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) are needed. In conclusion, we include a further case of liposarcoma of the thyroid gland in a review of the literature.

Publication History

Publication Date:
18 April 2018 (online)