A CASE OF FOLLICULAR CARCINOMA IN CHILDHOOD

A nine-year-old boy with follicular carcinoma of the thyroid is reported. His mother noticed a mass in his right anterior side of the neck at the age of eight. The tumor was 2.0×1.8cm in size in the right lobe of thyroid with Class II of aspiration cytology. But 5 months later, it showed a slight enlargement and Class III, and was suspected of malignancy. Right hemithyroidectomy and cervical lymph node dissection were performed. The resected tumor was 2.4×1.8×1.5cm in size. Histological diagnosis was widely invasive follicular carcinoma of the thyroid and two node metastases. He has been free from recurrence or metastasis for the following 12 months. Thyroid carcinoma in a child aged under 10 years is very rare. A total of 14 cases, including this case, seen in the Japanese literature are reviewed in terms of clinicopathological aspects.