Cartilaginous choristoma of tongue: A rare case report

Choristoma: a very rare cause of thyroid nodule. Case report and literature review

BACKGROUND

Choristoma is a well-defined benign lesion formed by histologically normal tissue in an unusual location. Diagnosis is confirmed after surgical removal of the mass. To our knowledge, to date there has been only one case of thyroid choristoma described in the literature.

PATIENT FINDINGS

A 70-year-old man with a history of non-Hodgkin lymphoma presented with sudden cervical enlargement. Cervical CT scan showed a 47mm hypodense nodule on the right thyroid lobe. Fine-needle aspiration revealed follicular lesion of undetermined significance. During the following weeks there was noticeable thyroid enlargement. Reassessment with thyroid ultrasound showed a 73mm nodule. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy. Histopathological examination revealed a choristoma composed of squamous epithelium lined cysts, smooth muscle, adipose tissue, connective tissue, foci of ossification and extramedullary hematopoiesis. No cytological atypia or tumoral necrosis were found. Thyroid choristomas are an exceedingly rare cause of a thyroid nodule.

Osseous Choristoma of the Tongue: A Case Report

We report a case of a 40-year-old Japanese woman with a benign tongue tumor diagnosed as osseous choristoma of the tongue. Resection of the tongue tumor was performed under general anesthesia. The gross examination of the resected specimen showed a bone-like mass measuring 5 × 5 × 3 mm, surrounded by soft tissue. Based on the findings, a histopathological diagnosis of osseous choristoma was established. There was no evidence of tumor recurrence or distant metastasis during the 3-year follow-up.

Cartilaginous choristoma of tongue - A case report and review

Choristoma (aberrant rest or heterotopic tissue) is defined as a histologically normal tissue proliferation, which is not normally found in the anatomic site of proliferation. Choristoma with a proliferation of chondroid tissue is known as cartilaginous choristoma. Clinically, they present as a painless firm nodule and may produce local dysfunction. They occur most frequently in the tongue and less commonly in other sites, such as buccal mucosa, soft palate and gingiva. We report a 35 years female patient with pedunculated globular growth over the left lateral border of the tongue, resembling papilloma but histopathological analysis of the excised specimen revealed to be cartilaginous choristoma.

Ectopic lamellar Pacinian corpuscle within the thymus. Atypical or abnormal location?

Lamellar (Pacinian) corpuscle is a cutaneous encapsulated sensory corpuscle, mainly functioning as a rapidly adapting low-threshold mechanoreceptor with characteristic "onion skin"-like appearance. Even though the Pacinian corpuscle is typically located in the skin, histomorphologically and confirmed by using immunohistochemical methods, we have identified it within the interstitium of the thymus of a newborn with congenital heart defect. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such account ever to be published. The structure of the thymic Pacinian corpuscle was the same as the Pacinian corpuscle in the skin. The ectopic thymic Pacinian corpuscle can be hypothetically explained as the consequence of impaired migration of neural crest cells, since neural crest-derived cells play an important role in the development of the Pacinian corpuscle, as well as the thymus and heart. In general, the occurrence of ectopic Pacinian corpuscle in different organs is rare. In the scientific literature, there are reports of its sporadic presence in the pancreas, in the lymph nodes, inside the prostate and the urinary bladder wall. Our report presents the first described case of the Pacinian corpuscle in a heterotopic location in the thymus. Similar to other incidental findings of this anatomic structure, explanation of its ectopic development, as well as its local function remains only speculative.