Thyroid & parathyroid
Papillary thyroid carcinoma
Other subtypes
Diffuse follicular
Author: Shahid Islam, M.D., Ph.D.
Last author update: 1 March 2009
Last staff update: 16 August 2023
Copyright: 2003-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed search: papillary carcinoma thyroid follicular
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Terminology | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | Differential diagnosisCite this page: Islam S. Diffuse follicular. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/thyroiddiffusefollicular.html. Accessed April 25th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Tumor involvement of most of a lobe or both lobes by follicular variant of papillary carcinoma
- Uncommon (1 - 2% of papillary thyroid carcinomas at most)
- Younger patients than those with classic papillary carcinoma
- Aggressive with more extrathyroidal extension, nodal metastases and vascular invasion than classic (encapsulated) follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (Virchows Arch 2002;440:418, Cancer 2006;107:1255)
Terminology
- Also called nonencapsulated / infiltrative
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Diffuse or micronodular pattern of growth
- More intratumoral fibrosis than classic variant
Microscopic (histologic) images
Contributed by Andrey Bychkov, M.D., Ph.D.
Infiltrative growth
Images hosted on other servers:
53 year old man with metastatic carcinoma
Differential diagnosis
- Macrofollicular adenoma at frozen section
- Multinodular goiter
