Carcinoma of the Thyroid Gland (Differential Diagnosis Thyroglossal Duct Cyst)

tuha_20a_n.jpg: In this 12.1-year-old girl with an irregularly enlarged thyroid gland the asymmetrical enlargement in favor of the right side is more recognizable in the view from the left side ( tuha_20b_n.jpg) than from the right side ( tuha_20c_n.jpg). The histological diagnosis was a papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland. It is worthwhile to compare tuha_18a_n.jpg, tuha_18b_n.jpg, tuha_19_n.jpg and Figure tuha_20a_n.jpg with those figures of a thyroglossal duct cyst; $$tuha_01??££see alternate figure 1§§$$tuha_6??££ and alternate figure 2§§. Besides the difference of age (second versus first decade including the different development of the thyroid cartilage) the pathological findings are deeper and paramedian in the former, and higher and on the midline in the latter. In addition, the palpation from the back of the sitting patient and from the front in the supine patient with inclined head is useful, as well as the observation of the position of the mass during swallowing.