Primary Thyroid Lymphoma in an Adolescent with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Congenital Deafness

Abstract

Background: Primary thyroid lymphoma is extremely rare in children and adolescents. The diagnosis of thyroid malignancies is often made secondary to other thyroid pathologies including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). Case Presentation: This case describes a 14-year-old girl with a background of HT and congenital deafness that presented with a rapidly enlarging multinodular thyroid mass. She underwent a total thyroidectomy and a diffuse, large B-cell lymphoma was diagnosed on pathology. Discussion: Primary thyroid disease is an extremely rare disease in childhood, usually presenting as a rapidly enlarging goitre. The correlation between Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and primary thyroid lymphoma is well-established in adults but has not been verified in the paediatric population. Our patient also has βthalassemia and Usher syndrome, however, no correlation between these and primary thyroid lymphoma could be found in the literature. Conclusion: It is important to include malignancy in the differential diagnosis of thyroid enlargement or unexplained symptoms, especially in the presence of syndromes. Further research into the relation between lymphomas and HT in the paediatric population is needed.