Unusual Clinical Course of Graves’ Thyrotoxicosis and Concomitant Sarcoidosis: Case Report and Review of Literature

Case report: Thyroid sarcoidosis as a rare localization of the disease: Report of two cases and review of the literature

Sarcoidosis is a multi-systemic disease of unknown etiology that is characterized by the formation of non-necrotizing and non-caseating granulomas in affected organs. Sarcoidosis granulomas can form in any organ, but the lungs and intrathoracic lymph nodes are the most commonly affected. Thyroid involvement in sarcoidosis is very rare, with prevalence estimates of 1–4.5% in case series of autopsied patients with systemic sarcoidosis. It is extremely rare for sarcoidosis to occur solely in the thyroid gland, but it is usually associated with the involvement of other organs, primarily the lungs and lymph nodes. Typical manifestations are diffuse goiter and solitary or multiple thyroid nodules. Thyroid function remains intact in the majority of cases, but sometimes it can result in hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. The diagnosis can be made after fine needle aspiration cytology, but usually it is diagnosed as an incidental finding while analyzing thyroidectomy tissue or during autopsy. Oral steroids are the cornerstone of thyroid sarcoidosis management, along with specific endocrinological treatment on some occasions. Given that we found only 71 reports of thyroid sarcoidosis available in the literature, we created and analyzed a cohort of 24 patients with thyroid sarcoidosis who were described in the literature in the 21st century and reported two additional cases of thyroid sarcoidosis.

A case of Graves' disease developing with exacerbation of sarcoidosis

A 53-year old female was referred to our hospital with bilateral abnormal shadow in the chest X-ray. Computed tomography revealed multifocal ill-defined densities and thickening of bronchial wall and pulmonary vessels by fine nodules combined with massive enlargement of bilateral mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes. Analyses of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and transbronchial lung biopsy specimen showed the increase in CD4/CD8 ratio and the presence of non-caseating granulomas, respectively. In addition, serum angiotensin-converting enzyme was extremely high, leading to the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Simultaneously, she complained of palpitation and sweating. Endocrinological examination showed comorbid hyperthyroidism without anti-TSH receptor antibody (TRAb). In the first 2-3 months, pulmonary shadow gradually disappeared without steroid administration. In parallel, serum thyroid hormone levels were gradually normalized in the beginning, but increased after 3 months with an appearance of TRAb. After initiation of treatment with antithyroid agent, hyperthyroidism was improved within 9 months, and changed into hypothyroidism thereafter. The clinical course of this rare case suggest that immunological storm by exacerbation of sarcoidosis may trigger the onset of autoimmune thyroid disease, in which hyperthyroidism with stimulating type of TRAb subsequently changed into hypothyroidism with blocking-type TRAb.

Cervical: Lymphadenopathy

The neck region contains around 300 lymph nodes (LNs) out of 800 LNs in the whole body. The detailed study of LNs by Rouviere in 1932 [1] and the later illustration of metastatic predilection of head and neck malignancies to certain LN regions by Lindberg et al. [2] paved the road to a clinically sound classification. The American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) and the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) developed the currently widely accepted levels classification of the cervical LNs (Table 8.1, Figs. 8.1 and 8.2).

Two cases of thyroid sarcoidosis presentation as painful, recurrent goiter in patients with Graves' disease

Sarcoidosis rarely involves the thyroid gland. Pain in the thyroid gland area was only sporadically reported in patients suffering from this disease. The aim of this paper is to report and discuss the cases of two female patients with Graves' disease who presented painful, rapidly growing, recurrent goiters (after strumectomy in their early adult lives). Invasive treatment was applied and sarcoidosis was revealed histologically. The first patient suffered from dysphagia and dyspnoea due to large goiter; skin lesions were present as well. Sarcoidosis was diagnosed in histological examination of the thyroid tissue specimens. Steroid treatment was ineffective; thus, the thyroid was removed. Two years later thyroid sarcoidosis recurred as a painful goiter and surgical treatment was applied once again. In the second case, thyroid ultrasound findings suggesting malignancy, and prompted the decision to perform thyroidectomy despite the fact that FNAB (fine needle aspiration biopsy) revealed cells indicative of a "granulomatous disease in the post-resection scar" and results of the thorax high-resolution computed tomography scan suggested pulmonary sarcoidosis. Pathological examination confirmed sarcoidosis. However, a papillary cancer focus was also found.