A case of cavernous hemangioma of the thyroid gland

Hemangioma of the thyroid gland is quite rare. We report a case of cavernous hemangioma of the thyroid gland. A 48-year-old female visited our hospital with an anterior neck mass. A massive mass was palpable in the right lobe of the thyroid. CT scanning revealed a mass measuring 7 cm with calcifications in the right lobe of the thyroid and the trachea was shifted to the left. Thyroid hormones were within the normal ranges. Although aspiration biopsy of the mass was negative, right hemithyroidectomy and D1 neck dissection were performed under a diagnosis of suspected thyroid carcinoma. Histopathological examination of the surgical specimen showed cavernous hemangioma in the thyroid gland. The patient was discharged without complications. To our knowledge, only 16 cases of hemangioma of the thyroid have ever been reported in Japan. An analysis of the previous reports showed that fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed in 12 cases, of which 8 cases were blood only. Furthermore, they had often poor characteristic findings on ultrasound scans, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, preoperative diagnosis of cavernous hemangioma of the thyroid is difficult, and in fact, a diagnosis was made before surgery in only 3 of the cases. If a large amount of fresh blood was aspirated before surgery, we should consider the possibility of hemangioma of the thyroid. There are some reports that surgery of hemangioma of the thyroid results in a large amount of blood, thus surgery should be performed with great care.