Diagnosis and Treatment > Signs and Symptoms > Neck pain/discomfort
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Summary
Dupilumab an inhibitor of the interleukin (IL)-4R-alpha subunit is used for the treatment of allergic diseases. The patient was a 49-year-old man who received dupilumab for the treatment of severe atopic dermatitis. He presented hyperthyroidism with elevated thyroglobulin and anti-thyroid antibody negativity at 4 months after the initiation of therapy. On scintigraphy, the thyroid radioiodine uptake was low. Ultrasonography showed a diffuse hypoechoic area in the thyroid gland. A pathological study revealed lymphocytic infiltration. The administration of dupilumab was continued because of his atopic dermatitis that showed an excellent response. The patient`s hyperthyroidism changed to hypothyroidism 3 weeks later. Six months later his thyroid function normalized without any treatment. We herein describe the case of a patient with atopic dermatitis who developed painless thyroiditis under treatment with dupilumab. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of this event in the literature.
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Dupilumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody that blocks interleukin-4 and interleukin-13, has been shown to be effective in the treatment atopic dermatitis and asthma with eosinophilia.
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Painless thyroiditis is characterized by transient hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism and recovery without anti-thyroid treatment.
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This is the first report of painless thyroiditis as an adverse effect of dupilumab, although conjunctivitis and nasopharyngitis are the main adverse effects of dupilumab.
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Search for other papers by Swati Mehrotra in
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Summary
We report a rare case of concurrent medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) with intermixed disease in several of the lymph node (LN) metastases in a patient who was subsequently diagnosed with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). A 56 year old female presented with dysphagia and was found to have a left thyroid nodule and left superior cervical LN with suspicious sonographic features. Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) demonstrated PTC in the left thyroid nodule and MTC in the left cervical LN. Histopathology demonstrated multifocal PTC with 3/21 LNs positive for metastatic PTC. One LN in the left lateral neck dissection exhibited features of both MTC and PTC within the same node. In the right lobe, a 0.3 cm focus of MTC with extra-thyroidal extension was noted. Given persistent calcitonin elevation, a follow-up ultrasound displayed an abnormal left level 4 LN. FNAB showed features of both PTC and MTC on the cytopathology itself. The patient underwent repeat central and left radical neck dissection with 3/6 LNs positive for PTC in the central neck and 2/6 LNs positive for intermixed PTC and MTC in the left neck. There was no evidence of distant metastases on computed tomography and whole body scintigraphy, however a 1.9 x 2.5 cm enhancing mass within the right inter-polar kidney was discovered. This lesion was highly suspicious for RCC. Surgical pathology revealed a 2.5 cm clear cell RCC, Fuhrman grade 2/4, with negative surgical margins. She continues to be observed with stable imaging of her triple malignancies.
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Mixed medullary-papillary thyroid neoplasm is characterized by the presence of morphological and immunohistochemical features of both medullary and papillary thyroid cancers within the same lesion. Simultaneous occurrence of these carcinomas has been previously reported, but a mixed disease within the same lymph node is an infrequent phenomenon.
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Prognosis of mixed medullary-papillary thyroid carcinomas is determined by the medullary component. Therefore, when PTC and MTC occur concurrently, the priority should be given to the management of MTC, which involves total thyroidectomy and central lymph node dissection.
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Patients with thyroid cancer, predominantly PTC, have shown higher than expected rates of RCC. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the combination of MTC, PTC, and RCC in a single patient.
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Summary
A 21 year-old woman was found to have a pituitary macroadenoma following an episode of haemophilus meningitis. Biochemical TSH and GH excess was noted, although with no clear clinical correlates. She was treated with a somatostatin analogue (SSA), which restored the euthyroid state and controlled GH hypersecretion, but she re-presented with a further episode of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak and recurrent meningitis. Histology following transsphenoidal adenomectomy revealed a Pit-1 lineage plurihormonal adenoma expressing GH, TSH and PRL. Such plurihormonal pituitary tumours are uncommon and even more unusual to present with spontaneous bacterial meningitis. The second episode of CSF leak and meningitis appears to have been due to SSA therapy-induced tumour shrinkage, which is not a well-described phenomenon in the literature for this type of tumour.
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Pit-1 lineage GH/TSH/PRL-expressing plurihormonal pituitary adenomas are uncommon. Moreover, this case is unique as the patient first presented with bacterial meningitis.
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Inmunohistochemical plurihormonality of pituitary adenomas does not necessarily correlate with biochemical and clinical features of hormonal hypersecretion.
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Given that plurihormonal Pit-1 lineage adenomas may behave more aggressively than classical pituitary adenomas, accurate pathological characterization of these tumours has an increasing prognostic relevance.
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Although unusual, a CSF leak and meningitis may be precipitated by SSA therapy of a pituitary macroadenoma via tumour shrinkage.
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Search for other papers by Derick Adams in
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Summary
Co-secreting TSH and growth hormone pituitary adenomas are rare. We present a case of a 55-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of neck fullness. Ultrasound revealed multiple thyroid nodules and examination revealed several clinical features of acromegaly. She was found to have a co-secreting TSH and growth hormone pituitary macroadenoma. She underwent surgical resection followed by gamma knife radiation, which resulted in complete remission of her TSH and GH-secreting adenoma.
Learning points:
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TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas are rare and about one-third co-secrete other hormones.
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Thyroid nodules are common in acromegaly and can be the presenting sign of a growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma.
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In the workup of acromegaly, assessment of other pituitary hormones is essential, even in the absence of symptoms of other pituitary hormone dysfunction.
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Complete remission of co-secreting GH and TSH pituitary macroadenomas is possible with surgery and radiation alone.
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Search for other papers by Amit Allahabadia in
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Summary
This case report reviews the rare condition of Riedel’s thyroiditis via a patient case. The report highlights the difficulties that one may encounter when managing such a case in regards to patient symptoms, side effects of medications and the relapsing nature of the condition. The case report also highlights novel treatment in the treatment of Riedel’s thyroiditis, rituximab, how this works and the resolution of symptoms that we have achieved with our patient on this treatment.
Learning points:
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Riedel’s thyroiditis is characterised by chronic inflammation, which causes dense fibrosis in the thyroid gland.
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Riedel’s thyroiditis can present with neck pain, dysphagia and dyspnoea with a firm, non-tender mass found on examination.
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Riedel’s thyroiditis is part of the IgG4-related systemic disorders.
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Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody that works against the protein CD20.
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Search for other papers by Andrea Benjamin in
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Summary
Hamman’s syndrome (spontaneous subcutaneous emphysema and pneumomediastinum) is a rare complication of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), with a multifactorial etiology. Awareness of this syndrome is important: it is likely underdiagnosed as the main symptom of shortness of breath is often attributed to Kussmaul’s breathing and the findings on chest radiograph can be subtle and easily missed. It is also important to be aware of and consider Boerhaave’s syndrome as a differential diagnosis, a more serious condition with a 40% mortality rate when diagnosis is delayed. We present a case of pneumomediastinum, pneumopericardium, epidural emphysema and subcutaneous emphysema complicating DKA in an eighteen-year-old patient. We hope that increasing awareness of Hamman’s syndrome, and how to distinguish it from Boerhaave’s syndrome, will lead to better recognition and management of these syndromes in patients with diabetic ketoacidosis.
Learning points:
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Hamman’s syndrome (spontaneous subcutaneous emphysema and pneumomediastinum) is a rare complication of DKA.
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Presentation may be with chest or neck pain and shortness of breath, and signs are subcutaneous emphysema and Hamman’s sign – a precordial crunching or popping sound during systole.
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Boerhaave’s syndrome should be considered as a differential diagnosis, especially in cases with severe vomiting.
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The diagnosis of pneumomediastinum is made on chest radiograph, but a CT thorax with water-soluble oral contrast looking for contrast leak may be required if there is high clinical suspicion of Boerrhave’s syndrome.
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Hamman’s syndrome has an excellent prognosis, self-resolving with the correction of the ketoacidosis in all published cases in the literature.
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Summary
The 85% of cases of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) are due to parathyroid adenomas (PA) and less than 1% to parathyroid carcinomas (PC). The PA usually measure <2 cm, weigh <1 g and generate a mild PHPT, whereas the PC usually exceeds these dimensions and are associated with a severe PHPT. However, giant PA (GPA), which is defined as those larger than 3 g, has been documented. Those may be associated with very high levels of PTH and calcium. In these cases, their differentiation before and after surgery with PC is very difficult. We present a case of severe PHPT associated with a large parathyroid lesion, and we discuss the differential aspects between the GPA and PC.
Learning points:
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In parathyroid lesions larger than 2 cm, the differential diagnosis between GPA and PC should be considered.
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Pre and postsurgical differentiation between GPA and PC is difficult; however, there are clinical, analytical and radiographic characteristics that may be useful.
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The depth/width ratio larger or smaller than 1 seems to be the most discriminatory ultrasound parameter for the differential diagnosis.
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Loss of staining for parafibromin has a specificity of 99% for the diagnosis of PC.
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The simultaneous presence of several histological characteristics, according to the classification of Schantz and Castleman, is frequent in PC and rare in GPA.
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Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Summary
A 55-year-old male, with a positive medical history for hypothyroidism, treated with stable doses for years was admitted with subacute thyroiditis and a feeling of pain and pressure in the neck. Laboratory tests showed decrease in TSH levels, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and very high antithyroid antibodies. Owing to enlarging goiter and exacerbation in the patient's complaints, he was operated with excision of a fibrotic and enlarged thyroid lobe. Elevated IgG4 plasma levels and high IgG4/IgG plasma cell ratio on immunohistochemistry led to the diagnosis of IgG4-mediated thyroiditis. We concluded that IgG4-thyroiditis and IgG4-related disease should be considered in all patients with an aggressive form of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
Learning points
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IgG4-related disease is a systemic disease that includes several syndromes; IgG4-related thyroiditis is one among them.
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IgG4-thyroiditis should be considered in all patients with an aggressive form of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
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Patients with suspected IgG4-thyroiditis should have blood tested for IgG4/IgG ratio and appropriate immunohistochemical staining if possible.
