Primary thyroid lymphoma: report of eight new cases.

Purpose. - Primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) is a rare disease. Few patients a re reported in the literature. We report eight new cases of PTL with long-t erm follow-up. Results. - The clinical presentation was usually an enlarging neck mass squ eezing surrounding structures. The diagnosis was established after thyroide ctomy with histopathologic and immunohistochemical studies. Histology showe d infiltrates of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis in all cases. Three patien ts had thyroid lymphoma arising from mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. One patient died postoperatively. The other seven were treated with combined c hemotherapy and radiotherapy. They were still in remission after a 6-year f ollow-up. Conclusion. - Diagnosis of PTL should be suspected when there is a recent t hyroid enlargement Surgery associated with chemotherapy and radiation gave good results in our study with long-term follow-up, though surgery was not always recommended in previous reports. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.