Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in Black Thyroid: A Case Report and Literature Review

Black Thyroid is a rare finding that has been reported in most cases for long-term use of minocycline and has recently been observed in some cases with thyroid cancer, most of which are papillary thyroid carcinoma, although there is no definitive link between these two findings.
Patient

The patient was a 32-year-old female who underwent cervical ultrasound in studies of heart palpitations and hoarseness, with findings suggesting malignant nodule in the right thyroid lobe with lymphadenopathy suggestive of malignancy in FNA. Candidate for surgery, during which we noticed complete thyroid discoloration in black and finally the patient underwent total thyroidectomy and cervical lymph node dissection and the final pathologic outcome was papillary thyroid cancer.

There is currently a possibility of thyroid malignancy in black thyroid cases, but since this relationship has not been definitively proven, prophylactic thyroidectomy has no place in the absence of strong pathologic evidence suggesting thyroid cancer in black thyroid. It makes more sampling and monitoring more accurate.