Clinicopathological features and treatment outcomes of primary thyroid lymphomas in Saudi Arabia: A case series of seven patients

BackgroundAim was to describe the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, histological types and treatment outcomes of primary thyroid lymphomas (PTLs) in Saudi population.Materials and methodsRetrospective review of medical records of patients with thyroid carcinoma, who were treated in our center in the period from July 2005 to December 2012, was performed. Demographic, diagnostic (pathological and radiologic), histopathological and treatment parameters were collected.ResultsAmong 570 records of patients with thyroid carcinoma, seven (1.23%) patients were diagnosed with PTLs. The frequent clinical presentation was a neck swelling and compression symptoms. Four (57.2%) patients were diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL); two (28.6%) patients were marginal zone B-cell mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas and one (14.2%) patient with T-cell lymphoma. All patients were treated with chemotherapy and involved field radiotherapy 36–40 Gy in 18–20 fractions. Median follow up was 41.6 months (12–96) with overall survival and disease free survival rates of 71.1% and 83.3%.ConclusionPTLs are uncommon and MALT lymphomas tend to better outcomes than other variants. However, efforts are required for incorporation of immunohistochemical methods and multimodality approach to improve the diagnosis and treatment outcomes.