Comparison and clinical significance of pathologic and ultrasonographic features of thyroid lymphoma with undifferentiated carcinoma

Objective To explore and analyze the comparison and clinical significance of pathologic and ultrasonographic features of thyroid lymphoma with undifferentiated carcinoma. Methods 45 cases of thyroid lymphoma with surgical and pathological confirmation treated in our hospital were selected from June 2016 to June 2018, during the same period 40 cases of undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma with surgical and pathological confirmation were selected. The pathological manifestations and ultrasonographic diagnostic results were compared between the two groups of patients. Results The thyroid lymphoma group and thyroid anaplastic carcinoma group had obvious ultrasonographic differences in terms of echoes (low echo/very low echo), sample line or grid high echo or not, calcification or not, cystic lesion or not, and posterior echo enhancement or not, characterized by very low echo, sample line or grid high echo, and posterior echo enhancement more seen in the thyroid lymphoma group, and rare calcification and cystic lesion, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). The pathological results of patients in the thyroid lymphoma group and the undifferentiated thyroid cancer group were different: according to the pathological examination, the tumor cells in the thyroid lymphoma group presented monoclonal proliferation, showing the consistency of tumor cell size and morphology; however, the cases in the undifferentiated thyroid cancer group showed obvious cell heterogeneity and polymorphism in size and shape of the cancer cells. The pathological examination of the patients in the thyroid lymphoma group showed that there were many cases of hashimoto's thyroiditis and changes of interstitial fibrosis. More cases of tumor necrosis were found in the undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma group. Conclusions Patients with thyroid lymphoma and thyroid anaplastic carcinoma have high similarity in the clinical manifestations, but have obvious differences in the pathological features. Thyroid lymphoma and undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma have obvious differences in terms of ultrasonographic features, showed by extremely low echo, sample line or grid high echo, posterior echo enhancement, and lack of calcification and cystic change. Key words: Ultrasonic diagnosis; Thyroid lymphoma; Thyroid nodules; Pathology