Retrosternal Goiter – Cancer Incidence

Abstract

The retrosternal goiter is a rare thyroid gland disease, which mainly affects women over 60 years, characterized by increased thyroid size, weight and volume, which invades the thoracic cavity. Failure to perform the surgery has been recommended in some cases as an alternative way of improving the quality of life, especially in asymptomatic elderly patients. However, there is an incidence of cancer in retrosternal goiters associated with a higher rate of complications, justified the early surgical approach, especially in young patients, even if asymptomatic. This work results from a case report and literature review on retrosternal goiter and cancer incidence in a 62-year-old patient submitted total thyroidectomy with histopathologic findings after surgery, papillary carcinoma, follicular carcinoma and follicular adenoma. These findings alerts us to the possibility of cancer incidence in these patients, recommending in such cases, early surgical treatment