Carcinoma insular del tiroides: comunicación de 5 casos / Insular carcinoma of the thyroid

ABSTRACT

We report 5 cases of insular carcinoma of the thyroid. Most patients were females (80 percent) with an age range of 28 to 75 years. Treatment consisted of total or near total thyroidectomy plus modified cervical lymph node dissection in cases with lymph node metastasis. This was followed by radioiodine therapy and external radiation therapy in patients with residual disease. None of the patients had distant metastasis. However, three patients with involvement of the perithyroid soft tissue died within 4 years of the diagnosis. The other two patients are alive without evidence of disease. This type of thyroid carcinoma has an aggresive clinical course with frequent extension to the adjacent soft tissue associated to poor outcome: