Inclusions of Non-neoplastic Thyroid Tissue within Cervical Lymph Nodes

Abstract

Non-neoplastie thyroid follicle inclusions were found in four cervical lymph nodes and the cervical adipose tissue in a 29-year-old Japanese male who died of acute myelogenous leukemia. Microscopic study of several serial sections of the whole thyroid gland were negative for any neoplastic lesion. The presence of thyroid follicles in the cervical lymph nodes has been explained by theories of embryological displacement, metastatic carcinoma and benign metastasis (thyroidosis). The author strongly suggests the need for a re-evaluation of the embryological relationships between developing cervical lymphatic and thyroid tissues as well as thorough systematic anatomic and pathological studies of the cervical lymph nodes and the thyroid gland proper. © 1968, Tohoku University Medical Press. All rights reserved.