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Ординатура / Хирургия / Библиотека им академика М.И. Перельмана / Книга_623_Библиотеки_им_академика_М_И_Перельмана

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The breast 385
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Axillary node sampling (ANS) is indicated if the sentinel node cannot be identified, either because of failure of the localizing injections or due to pre­vious surgery in the axilla. A sample of a minimum of four lymph nodes are removed for histological analysis.
When the sampled nodes are free of tumour, no fur­ther axillary surgery is required. If there are positive nodes following SLN biopsy or ANS, then further treatment to the axilla might be required in the form of axillary radiotherapy or axillary clearance.
Positive axillary nodes at presentation
Positive axillary nodes at presentation implies the possibility of onward nodal spread. There are two sur­gical options for such patients:
Axillary node clearance (ANC), removing all the
• nodes lateral and deep to the pectoralis minor muscle (a level I and II clearance) (see Figure35.3).
Targeted axillary dissection (TAD) is an evolving approach for patients with 1–2 positive nodes at presentation undergoing neoadjuvant chemo­therapy. If there is evidence of good response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, then the previously positive nodes can be removed along with the sen­tinel nodes. If all the nodes are now negative for cancer cells, then no further treatment is required for the axilla.
Complications
Complications of axillary surgery include the risk of lymphoedema, which is increased with the greater extent of dissection (20% after ANC vs 6% after SLN biopsy) along with the risks of pain, numbness, shoul­der stiffness and damage to the axillary nerves and vessels (e.g. winged scapula following damage to the long thoracic nerve).
Breast reconstruction
Breast reconstruction may be performed either at the time of mastectomy (immediate) or as a delayed pro­cedure. The combination of skin- or nipple- sparing mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction may produce better cosmetic results. Reconstruction does not appear to impede the ability to detect local recurrence and is of psychological benefit.
The choice of reconstruction for a suitable individ­ual patient will depend on several factors, including breast size, the adequacy of skin flaps, whether radio­therapy is planned or has previously been used, abdominal size and previous abdominal operations, smoking status, lifestyle, comorbidities, body mass index and the patient’s preference. Common recon­structions include the following:
1
Implant based: a breast implant containing either sili-
cone, saline or both, is used to replace the excised breast tissue. It is placed either above (prepectoral) or below (subpectoral) the pectoralis major muscle. It can be done as one or two stages. The latter involves a tissue expander to increase the skin envelope, which is later on replaced by a permanent implant.
Common complications of implants include the risk of rupture and infection that can result in implant loss, as well as the risks of rotation, ani­mation and capsular contracture that may require a revision. A very rare entity called breast implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA­ALCL) is also included in the consent process.
2 Autologous flaps: skin and fat with or without the
underlying muscle is used to replace the breast, based on its own vascular pedicle. A flap may be pedicled (swung around on its existing blood sup­ply) or free (pedicle removed and anastomosed to vessels in the mastectomy site). These can be one of the following:
a
Latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap: pedicled
flap based on the thoracodorsal artery (a con­tinuation of the subscapular artery).
Deep inferior epigastric artery perforator
b
(DIEP) flap: the most commonly used free flap, where an island of skin and fat from the lower abdominal wall is used to reconstruct the breast. It includes an abdominoplasty for flap harvesting and microsurgery for the anasto­mosis of the flap to the chest wall. The amount of harvested tissue is usually sufficient for bilateral breast reconstruction, if indicated.
c
Transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous
(TRAM) flap: based on the inferior epigastric vessels, a transverse skin ellipse with underly­ing fat and a portion of the rectus abdominis muscles. It can be pedicled or free. However, due to the implications to abdominal wall weakening this flap is now less frequently used.
Complications of autologous reconstructions include the scarring, infection and weakening of the donor sites, as well as site-
related
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complications. The risk of postoperative thrombo­embolism is also increased with these operations.
Combination of flap and implant.
3
Systemic therapy
Adjuvant systemic therapy (after the operation) using cytotoxic agents and/or endocrine therapy improves survival and reduces recurrence, with great­est benefit in those women at greatest risk of relapse. Treatments are continuously evolving and have con­tributed in a dramatic increase in disease- free and cancer- specific survival over the years.
The choice of adjuvant systemic therapy is individ­ualized and based on disease factors, patient overall status and patient preferences. Prognostic factors that predict relapse and risk calculators, like PREDICT, may help to categorize this risk and select appropriate adjuvant therapy (see earlier in this chapter on prog­nostic factors).
Endocrine therapy is recommended in all patients
1
with ER- positive breast cancer. Duration of treat­ment is debatable; usual recommendation is for at least 5 years if tolerated, with potential extension to 10 years for high­a Tamoxifen, an oestrogen receptor antagonist
in the breast tissue, is mainly used in premen­opausal women. It is commonly associated with menopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes.
Aromatase inhibitors (AIs), like letrozole and
b
anastrozole, block extra­duction in postmenopausal women. They may result in bone loss and joint pains due to oes­trogen deficiency, which requires monitoring.
Ovarian function suppression by drug ther-
c
apy (LHRH inhibition, e.g. goserelin), or by oophorectomy and rarely irradiation, may be indicated for premenopausal women with high- risk ER- positive tumours, in addition to tamoxifen or AIs.
2 Combination chemotherapy, with anthracyclines
and taxanes is used in different schemes. Regimen choice varies according to institution and clini­cians. Due to treatment toxicity, suitable patients for chemotherapy should be carefully assessed.
3 Monoclonal antibody therapy: directed to the
HER2 improves prognosis in HER2- positive breast cancer. These agents are Trastuzumab (Herceptin) with or without Pertuzumab (Perjeta).
4 Bisphosphonates: like zoledronic acid and clo-
dronate, may reduce the risk of the breast cancer
risk tumours.
ovarian oestrogen pro-
spreading to the bones and improve survival in
risk postmenopausal women.
high-
A suggested outline for adjuvant systemic therapy is as follows.
1
Premenopausal women.
Low- risk disease: tamoxifen if ER positive.
a b
Intermediate- risk disease and ER- positive
tumours: tamoxifen possibly with ovarian function suppression. Chemotherapy discus­sion or genomic assays if indicated. Anti­HER2- directed treatment, if HER2 positive.
c High- risk disease and ER- positive tumours:
tamoxifen with ovarian function suppression, likely extended duration. Chemotherapy. Anti­HER2- directed treatment, if HER2 positive.
d Low/Intermediate/high- risk disease which is
ER negative: chemotherapy.
2
Postmenopausal women.
a Low- risk disease: AIs, usually Letrozole, if ER
positive. Tamoxifen, if AIs not tolerated or contraindicated.
Intermediate- risk disease and ER- positive
b
tumours: letrozole. Chemotherapy discussion or genomic assays if indicated. Anti­directed treatment, if HER2 positive.
c High- risk disease and ER- positive tumours:
letrozole, likely extended duration chemother­apy and bisphosphonates. Anti­treatment, if HER2 positive.
Low/Intermediate/high- risk disease which is ER
d
negative: chemotherapy and bisphosphonates.
Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (before any opera­tion) usually refers to chemotherapy with or without anti-
HER2- directed treatment; however, the role of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy is also expanding. Neoadjuvant systemic therapy is indicated for:
Downstaging the disease: this can allow for less
extensive surgery to the breast and axilla in locally advanced disease. This can lead to improved cos­mesis and decreased risk of postoperative compli­cations i.e. can allow breast conservation versus mastectomy or TAD versus axillary clearance.
Assessing the response: this can determine the
prognosis; pathologic complete response (pcr) signifies the best prognosis It can also allow the selection of different agents, if there is only partial or no response to neoadjuvant treatment.
HER2 positive breast cancers have the highest pcr rates and neoadjuvant chemotherapy with anti­treatment is also indicated in early- stage disease.
HER2- directed
HER2-
HER2
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Adjuvant radiotherapy
Following wide local excision. Following BCS, such as wide local excision for invasive cancer, radio­therapy to the breast significantly reduces the risk of recurrence within the breast.
Following mastectomy. Post- mastectomy radio-
• therapy decreases the risk of local recurrence in
risk patients. These include patients with
high­large tumour size, high­lymphatic invasion and/or involvement of deep margins.
Following axillary surgery. After axillary sampling,
the axilla can be irradiated if low volume node positive disease (1–2nodes). After axillary clear­ance, the axilla is not routinely irradiated. Addition of radiotherapy to regional nodes, like the internal mammary and the supra/infra clavicular nodes, is usually indicated in extensive disease.
grade, nodal involvement,
Survival
Several factors are thought to have contributed to increased survival rates for breast cancer, including breast screening, specialist multidisciplinary teams and more individualized treatment plans that optimize each aspect of patient treatment. The overall 10-
year survival is now 76%, with 64% of all women
surviving for 20 years, although survival for individual tumours depends on stage and type, as discussed.
Cancers detected by screening have a better prog­nosis (83% at 15 years), due to detection of early can­cers and less aggressive forms of breast cancer.
Paget’s disease of thenipple
Presentation
Paget’s disease middle- aged and elderly women and is present in around 2% of breast cancers. It presents as a unilateral red, scaly or bleeding, eczematous lesion of the nip-
12
Sir James Paget (1814–1899), Surgeon, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, UK. He also described diseases of the bone and penis, and discovered the parasite of trichinosis in humans while a rst- year medical student.
1112
of the nipple mostly occurs in
ple and areola, often accompanied by a burning sen­sation. Diagnosis is confirmed by punch biopsy.
Histologically, the epithelium of the nipple con­tains numerous ‘Paget cells’: large cells with clear cytoplasm and small eccentric nuclei. It is associated with an intraductal carcinoma of the underlying breast in 50% of cases, and DCIS in many of the oth­ers; a mammogram with or without a breast MRI should be part of the workup.
Treatment
Treatment will be determined by any underlying breast carcinoma detected on clinical or radiological investigation. Surgical management may include mastectomy and axillary surgery if associated with invasive cancer. In the absence of invasive disease, or if a small central tumour lies close to the nipple, cone excision of the nipple and underlying tissue followed by breast radiotherapy may be considered.
Inflammatory breast cancer
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare, aggressive dis­ease, representing only 0.5–2% of breast cancers. The breast appears swollen, red, firm and warm to touch, all cardinal features of inflammation. Symptoms appear quite quickly as cancer cells block the small lymphatics in the breast, and produce the peau d’orange appearance. The majority of these tumours will be ER negative. Treatment involves a combina­tion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery (usually, mastectomy and axillary clearance) and chest wall radiotherapy. Prognosis is poorer; 5­vival rates of the order of 50% and 30%, respectively, although improvements are being made with the introduction of new systemic treatments.
and 10- year sur-
Patients unfit forsurgery
These will usually be elderly patients with significant comorbidity, and some may have locally advanced tumours. The principles of management are closer to those for metastatic disease, the aim of therapy being to control the primary tumour while maintaining the best quality of life. Many patients will respond to an aromatase inhibitor or other hormonal therapy.
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Metastatic disease
The aim of treatment is to prolong survival and con­trol symptoms while maintaining a good quality of life. All patients with metastatic disease should be considered for some form of systemic therapy. Receptors for ER and HER2 should be repeated at the metastatic site and treatment should be directed accordingly. Hormone therapy, chemotherapy and HER2-
directed treatment can be used alone or in combination. With the current advances, patients can live for many years with metastatic breast cancer. Prognosis is worse if the relapse is within 2 years from initial diagnosis and if it involves visceral disease (i.e. liver metastases).
As the disease progresses, patients may require referral to palliative care specialists for control of symptoms and to enhance support for patients and carers.
Carcinoma ofthe malebreast
This accounts for less than 1% of all cases of breast cancer. In men, breast cancer affects an older age group than in women, with a peak incidence at 60 years. Clinically, it usually presents as a firm, painless, subareolar lump, although gynaecomastia and breast tenderness may also be present. Most aspects of man­agement have many similarities to that of women.
Treatment usually consists of a mastectomy due to the limited amount of breast tissue, but a wide local excision can also be performed if feasible. SLN biopsy or axillary lymph node clearance is per­formed for node negative and node positive disease, respectively.
Most tumours are oestrogen receptor positive, and the recommended agent is tamoxifen for men if there are no contra­directed treatments, as well as radiotherapy, mirror the indications applied to women.
Due to the rarity of male breast cancer, genetic test­ing is recommended for all newly diagnosed cases.
The prognosis for men is worse than for women, probably because of the sparse amount of breast tis­sue present, which allows rapid dissemination of the growth into the regional lymphatics.
indications. Chemotherapy and HER2-
Breast screening
Screening women aged 50–70 years with mammogra­phy every 3 years results in detection of early breast can­cers and DCIS and a reduction in mortality, estimated to be 1300 patients a year in the UK. Screen­cers tend to be smaller and node negative with an increasing detection rate of in situ disease. Screening may also detect some cancers that are very early and slow growing that would probably not be problematic in the woman’s lifetime, but this is outweighed by the many other significant cancers that are detected (2 to
2.5lives saved for every over diagnosed case). The success of the screening programme has led
toit being expanded to include women aged 47–73in England, whereas emerging data suggest this to be beneficial for women aged 40–49 years as well. Screening may also start at an earlier age in women who have a higher risk, due to family history or are known carriers of high- risk genes; these patients are offered yearly MRI scans from the age of 30 to 40 to avoid repeated irradiation and improve accuracy due to the increased breast density at this age.
detected can-
Prophylactic mastectomy
Women at high and very high risk for developing a breast cancer may be offered prophylactic mastec­tomy. This includes women with a strong family his­tory of breast cancer with or without a confirmed inherited mutation (like BRCA1/2, TP53 genes). In these cases, bilateral mastectomy can be discussed, whereas contralateral prophylactic mastectomy can be offered to women with a history of breast cancer that remain high risk. The procedure may be either a simple mastectomy or a subcutaneous nipple or skin­sparing mastectomy with or without breast recon­struction. It is rarely possible to remove all breast tissue so surveillance for this and other gene- mutation- related cancers is necessary.
Additional resources
Case 97: A frightened girl with a breast lump Case 98: Breast screening Case 99: An ulcerating breast lesion Case 100: A sinister break Case 101: A woman with a sore nipple
The neck
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Ekpemi Irune
Learning objectives
To understand the dierent causes of neck lumps.To know about the origin, presentation and management of branchial
cysts.
38
The thyroid gland is considered separately in Chapter 39, and the parathyroids in Chapter 40. A summary of the possible causes of a lump in the neck is given in Box38.1.
Branchial cyst andsinus
Anatomy
There are six arches and five clefts in the branchial system (Figure 38.1). The first arch forms the lower face, its external cleft the external auditory meatus, and its internal cleft the Eustachian tube. The second arch grows down over the third and fourth arches to form the skin of the neck. Normally, there is no exter­nal cleft, while the internal cleft forms the tonsillar fossa.
Aetiology
Persistence of remnants of the second branchial arch may lead to formation of a branchial cyst, sinus or fis­tula. The external cleft remnants open just anterior to the sternocleidomastoid, at the junction of the upper one- third and lower two- thirds. A sinus or fistula
Ellis and Calne’s Lecture Notes in General Surgery, Fourteenth Edition. Edited by Christopher Watson and Justin Davies. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2023 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Companion website: www.wiley.com/go/Watson/GeneralSurgery14
represents a patent second branchial arch sinus, which passes between the internal and external carotid artery to the tonsillar fossa. That a branchial cyst is a remnant of the second branchial arch has been questioned, based on the observation that the cysts are lined with stratified squamous epithelium rich in lymphatic tissue. This countertheory suggests that the cyst arises from cystic degeneration of lym­phoid tissue in the neck and is thus better termed a ‘lateral cervical cyst’.
Clinical features
A branchial cyst usually presents in early adult life and forms a soft swelling ‘like a half­bottle’, which bulges forward from beneath the ante­rior border of the sternocleidomastoid. It is lined by squamous epithelium and contains pus- like material, which is in fact cholesterol. It often presents following an upper respiratory tract infection. Clinical diagno­sis can be clinched by aspirating a few drops of this fluid from the cyst and demonstrating cholesterol crystals under the microscope. Occasionally, the cyst may become infected.
Differential diagnosis is from a tuberculous gland
of the neck or from an acute lymphadenitis.
The rare first branchial arch cyst may present just below the external auditory meatus at the angle of the jaw, with extension closely related to the VII nerve.
A branchial sinus presents as a small orifice, dis­charging mucus, which opens over the anterior
filled hot water
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Box 38.1 A lump inthe side ofthe neck
When considering the swellings that may arise in any anatomical region, one enumerates the anatomical structures lying therein and then the pathological swellings that may arise from them. The side of the neck is an excellent example of thisexercise.
Skin and superficial fascia
Sebaceous cyst.
Lipoma.
Lymph nodes
Infective.
Malignant.
Lymphoma, lymphatic leukaemia (see Chapter36).
Lymphatics
Cystic hygroma.
Artery
Carotid body tumour.
Carotid artery aneurysm.
Neural elements
Neuroma– greater auricular neuroma.
Paraganglioma.
Salivary glands
Submandibular salivary tumours or sialectasis or sialadenitis.
Tumour of the parotid gland.
Pharynx
Pharyngeal pouch.
Branchial arch remnant
Branchial cyst.
Bone
Cervical rib.
Other soft tissue and cartilaginous structures
Thyroid mass– goitre, thyroid cancer.
Parathyroid mass– adenoma or carcinoma.
Mass arising from the laryngeal cartilages– laryngeal cancer.
border of the sternocleidomastoid in the lower part of the neck. The majority are present at birth but a sec­ondary branchial sinus may form if an infected branchial cyst ruptures, or if part of the cyst is left
behind at operation. The sinus extends upwards between the internal and external carotid arteries to the sidewall of the pharynx. It may open into the ton­sillar fossa (which represents the second internal cleft) to form a branchial fistula.
Investigation
In patients over the age of 40 years, cystic lymph node metastases should be considered. It is also not uncommon for squamous cell carcinomas of human papilloma virus (HPV) type to present with cystic cervical lymph nodes in younger patients. Caution should be paid to obtaining a full clinical history, thorough oropharyngeal examination and flexible nasolaryngoscopy. Cross­neck (by CT or MRI scan), ultrasound characteriza­tion of the neck lump combined with fine­aspiration cytology or core- biopsy are essential to exclude malignancy in this patient group.
sectional imaging of the
needle
Treatment
Where no evidence of tumour is found on imaging and biopsy of the branchial cyst, the patient may undergo a neck dissection alone. Where there remains suspicion of malignancy, the neck dissection is undertaken in conjunction with a pharyngoscopy to examine the upper aero- digestive tract for a pri­mary cancerous lesion, bilateral tonsillectomy and a tongue base mucosectomy. All specimens from sur­gery are sent for histological analysis to confirm the pathological diagnosis.
Tuberculous cervical adenitis
Once an extremely rare disease in the UK, a diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) was made in over 8 900 people in the year 2011. Actively raising awareness, surveillance and comprehensive treatment in affected individuals has ensured that new cases of TB in the UK have fallen to the lowest levels since records began in 1960: drop­ping to approximately 4458 cases in 2020. Individuals at risk of contracting TB include the elderly, the immunocompromised, non- immunized migrants from countries with high a incidence of TB, deprived individuals residing in crowded conditions, those with high risk lifestyles such as drug and alcohol
Pouch I
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Eustachian tube and middle ear
The neck 391
1
Pouch II Tonsil
Pouch III Inferior parathyroid and thymus
Pouch IV Superior parathyroid
2
3
4
dependence, and cases that arise due to unexpected contact with infected individuals.
Cervical nodes are usually secondarily involved
from a focus originating in the upper aero-
digestive tract such as the tonsils and adenoids. The dental roots may occasionally be the primary source of infec­tion. The organisms may be human or bovine, and occasionally the disease is secondary to active pul­monary infection (pulmonary TB). The upper jugular chain of lymph nodes is most commonly affected in pulmonary and extra-
pulmonary TB.
Clinical features
At first, the nodes are small and discrete; then, as they enlarge, they become matted together and caseate with abscess formation, which eventually bursts through the deep fascia into the subcutaneous tis­sues. This results in a pocket of pus deep to and another superficial to the deep fascia, both connected by a small track: a ‘collar stud’ abscess. Left untreated, this discharges onto the skin, resulting in a chronic tuberculous sinus.
Differential diagnosis
Extra- pulmonary TB commonly affects lymph nodes, especially in the neck. Solid nodes must be differentiated from acute lymphadenitis, lymphoma or secondary malignant deposits. The abscess
Foramen caecum
Thyroid
Figure38.1 The derivatives of the
branchial pouches and clefts. Reproduced from Ellis H, Mahadevan V (2010) Clinical Anatomy, 12 Wiley- Blackwell.
th
edn. Oxford:
originating from a necrotizing lymph node must be differentiated from a branchial cyst (see earlier in this chapter).
Diagnosis may be facilitated with the use of ultra­sound scan, as the chronic tuberculous nodes show flecks of calcification and core needle biopsy samples may be obtained simultaneously for microbiological and histological analysis.
Treatment
The mainstay of TB treatment is non- surgical. Input from Infectious Diseases clinicians and the respira­tory physicians should be sought in the manage­ment of these patients. Most institutions have a specialist team dedicated to overseeing the investi­gation and management of patients with suspected tuberculosis within a multidisciplinary setting. The decision to treat is taken by experts in TB manage­ment and includes a full course of multi- drug anti­tuberculous chemotherapy. Small nodes are treated conservatively and the patient is kept under obser­vation. Significantly enlarged nodes greater than 3cm with significant abscess burden and/or fistula may be treated surgically with neck dissection in tandem with ongoing TB chemotherapy. This should only be offered in selected cases in discussion with the primary TB team due to the risk of creating a non- healing wound in an already immunocompro­mised patient.
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Carotid body tumour (chemodectoma)
Pathology
Also called carotid glomus tumours or carotid para­gangliomas, these are slow­arise from the chemoreceptor cells in the carotid body at the carotid bifurcation. Most behave in a benign fashion; in a few patients, the tumour becomes locally invasive and may metastasize. There is a famil­ial tendency to development of the tumour. They may also occur sporadically.
Macroscopically, it is a lobulated, yellowish tumour closely adherent to the internal and external carotid arteries at the bifurcation.
Microscopically, it is made up of large chromaffin polyhedral cells in a vascular fibrous stroma.
Clinical features
The tumour presents as a slowly enlarging mass in a patient over the age of 30 years, which transmits the carotid pulsation. The mass itself may be so highly vascular that it too demonstrates pulsation with a bruit on auscultation. Occasionally, pressure on the carotid sinus from the tumour produces attacks of faintness. Extension of the tumour may lead to cranial nerve palsies (VII, IX, X, XI and XII), resulting in dys­phagia and hoarseness.
growing tumours that
the carotid artery, the bifurcation of which is splayed open by a richly vascularized mass.
Genetic Testing for the patient and family mem-
bers should be carried out via referral to the Medical Genetics team. This is specifically aimed at uncovering tendency to and diagnosis of further paraganglioma in patients found to have genetic mutations. Approximately a quarter of paragan­gliomas are hereditary, with mutations in genes associated with succinate dehydrogenase.
Treatment
These cases are usually managed within a multidisci­plinary team (MDT) of surgeons, geneticists, radiolo­gists, pathologists, endocrinologists and other allied healthcare professionals.
Where surgery is offered, it is often possible to dis­sect the tumour away from the carotid sheath. If the carotid vessels are firmly involved, resection can be performed with graft augmentation or replacement of a segment of the artery. There is a risk of up to 5% ofcerebrovascular complications, including a higher risk of damage to adjacent cranial nerves. Thus, patients must be counselled appropriately and the option of conservative management with surveil­lance scanning may even be offered.
In the elderly, slow- growing tumours can be left untreated. In other cases, stereotactic radiosurgery may be offered to arrest the growth of the tumour. This may be by way of targeted radiotherapy in more recent times, with the benefits being the avoidance of surgery and its potential life- changing complications.
Special investigations
Duplex ultrasound gives precise localization of the tumour and its relation to the carotid and its bifurcation.
Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography show the tumour and its relation to
Additional resources
Case 102: A painless lump in the neck Case 103: A young immigrant with a lump in the neck
The thyroid
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Brian Fish
Learning objectives
To know the embryological course of the thyroid and related remnants.To understand the management of benign and malignant thyroid
conditions.
Congenital anomalies
Embryology
The thyroid gland forms as a diverticulum originating in the floor of the pharynx, and descends through the tongue, past the hyoid bone, to its position in the neck. The diverticulum usually closes, leaving a pit at the base of the tongue (the foramen caecum, which lies in the midline at the junction of the anterior two- thirds and the posterior third of the tongue). Failure of the thyroid to descend or incomplete descent along the track may result in ectopic thyroid tissue (Figure39.1). Incomplete oblite­ration of the track may result in fistula or sinus formation. In all cases of unexplained midline nodules in the neck, thyroid tissue should be suspected. A neck ultrasound with or without a thyroid uptake scan should be consid­ered before removal of any ectopic thyroid tissue to ensure that there is normal thyroid tissue present in the correct place before the ectopic thyroid tissue is removed.
39
of the tongue. This is termed a ‘lingual thyroid’, and usually represents the sum total of thyroid tissue. Treatment may not be required, although it can cause obstructive symptoms and rarely can undergo malignant change. Treatment with levothyroxine may suffice if associated with hypothyroidism and occasionally excision may be required.
Thyroglossal cyst
A thyroglossal cyst forms in the embryological rem­nants of the thyroid and presents as a fluctuant swell­ing in or near the midline of the neck. It is diagnosed by its characteristic physical signs.
1
It moves upwards when the patient protrudes the
tongue, because of its attachment to the tract of the thyroid descent.
2 It moves on swallowing, because of its attachment
to the larynx by the pretracheal fascia.
Lingual thyroid
Rarely, the thyroid fails to descend into the neck. Such a patient presents with a lump at the foramen caecum
Ellis and Calne’s Lecture Notes in General Surgery, Fourteenth Edition. Edited by Christopher Watson and Justin Davies. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2023 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Companion website: www.wiley.com/go/Watson/GeneralSurgery14
Treatment
Such cysts should be removed surgically, together with remnants of the thyroglossal tract, up to the fora­men caecum and the body of the hyoid bone, to which the tract is closely related (Sistrunk’s procedure
1
Walter Ellis Sistrunk (1880–1930), Associate Professor of Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Described the procedure in 1928.
1
).
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Lingual thyroid
Hyoid cartilage
Suprahyoid thyroglossal cyst
Thyroid cartilage
There is an associated risk of malignancy of approxi­mately 1%. Infection of the cyst or incomplete excision can lead to a thyroglossal fistula.
Track of thyroid descent and of a thyroglossal fistula
Thyroglossal cyst or ectopic thyroid
Pyramidal lobe
Retrosternal goitre
Thyroid physiology
The thyroid gland is concerned with the synthesis of the iodine- containing hormones thyroxine (tetra­iodothyronine, T4) and tri- iodothyronine (T3), which control the metabolic rate of the body; T3 is the active hormone and T4 is converted to T3 in the periphery. The thyroid gland also secretes calcitonin from the parafollicular C cells, which reduces the level of serum calcium and is, therefore, antagonistic to parathormone.
Iodine in the diet is absorbed into the bloodstream as iodide, which is taken up by the thyroid gland. After entering the follicle, the iodide is converted into
Figure39.1 The descent of the
thyroid, showing possible sites of ectopic thyroid tissue or thyroglossal cysts, and also the course of a thyroglossal stula. (The arrow shows the further descent of the thyroid that may take place retrosternally into the superior mediastinum.)
organic iodine, which is then bound with the tyrosine radicals of thyroglobulin to form the precursors of the thyroid hormones. The colloid within the thyroid ves­icles is composed of thyroglobulin, which is synthe­sized in the follicular cells, and T3 and T4. These hormones are released into the bloodstream after being separated from thyroglobulin within the follic­ular cells. In the general circulation, about 99% of T3and T4 is bound to protein, and it is the minute amount of unbound ‘free’ thyroid hormones in the circulating blood that produces the endocrine effects of the thyroid gland.
Physiological control ofsecretion
The immediate control of synthesis and liberation of T3 and T4 is by thyroid- stimulating hormone (TSH) produced by the anterior pituitary. TSH is secreted in