THE NEW ZEALAND MEDICAL JOURNAL

Thyroid papillary carcinoma in subhyoid ectopic thyroid tissue Hsin-Yu Lee, Mei-Hsiu Chen, Chih-Yuan Wang Ectopic thyroid tissue is a rare entity in thyroidology; however, the occurrence of thyroid carcinoma in such aberrant thyroid tissue has been reported. Carcinoma arising in subhyoid thyroid is especially unusual, with even fewer reports published. Usually, surgical excision is considered to be therapeutic strategy for managing possible malignancy in ectopic thyroid. Thyroid ultrasonography, radioactive iodine scanning, and fine-needle aspiration cytology are rapid, safe, and minimally invasive diagnostic procedures. We report one case of papillary carcinoma in subhyoid ectopic thyroid to emphasise the importance to evaluate all ectopic thyroid tissues. Thyroid tissue may develop in unusually anatomical location, i.e. ectopic thyroid. An ectopic thyroid can occur anywhere along the course followed by thyroglossal duct during its embryonic descent from the tongue—resulting in a lingual, suprahyoid