Jornal de Citologia e Histologia

Myxofibrosarcoma of the Thyroid: Second Case in Africa

Abstract

Asmaa Salama, Nesreen Hafez, Eman Abu-Sinna, Ashraf Hassouna and Ayman A. Amin

Myxofibrosarcoma is a common sarcoma in the extremities, but is rare in the head and neck region. Here, we report a case of 76 year old female patient in whom myxofibrosarcoma generated from the thyroid. The tumor was characterized by spindle cell proliferation with low to moderate cellular density in myxoid stroma. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells showed positive reactivity for vimentin and actin, but negative staining for S-100, CK and desmin. Tumor cells showed low proliferative activity as demonstrates by low Ki-67 labelling index (5%). The tumor was diagnosed as a low-grade myxofibrosarcoma. Despite the suboptimal general conditions of the patient, yet, surgery was the sole treatment of her and was successfully done. Adjuvant radiotherapy was indicated due to close circumferential margin. Myxofibrosarcoma is a very rare tumor in the head and neck region, and morphology beside immunohistochemistry is powerful tools to establish the diagnosis. Surgery is the main line of treatment followed by adjuvant radiotherapy to improve patient's survival.