Endocrine Abstracts

Sarcoidosis is a systemic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology characterized by the formation of granulomas. It most often involves the lungs, although there are evidences that it can be presented in any organ. Involvement of the thyroid gland is a very rare manifestation, defined as below 1% of cases. Thyroid cancer, on the other hand, is a cancer occurring with a frequency of approximately 1-1, 3% of all cancers, but with an increased incidence associated with growing diagnosis in the era of precision imaging. There is limited information suggesting a potential relationship between thyroid cancer and sarcoidosis. Currently, we have limited data based on the coexistence of diseases. Unfortunately, knowledge is based mainly on case reports and small groups of patients. However, there are several hypotheses linking the pathophysiology of both diseases. The impact of the etiology of autoimmune sarcoidosis and the frequent occurrence of autoimmune thyroid diseases remain unclear. Most often, the diagnosis was based on lymph node monitoring. Sarcoid nodes have been found in patients with thyroid cancer. However, in patients with sarcoidosis, changes in the thyroid gland were observed during imaging diagnostics, suggesting diagnosis of thyroid cancer. In both cases, indication to biopsy and cytology are often a difficult challenge. Moreover, in radioiodine scintigraphic examinations, the presence of pleural effusion or the presence of sarcoid lymph nodes may cause false uptake of radioiodine. Based on case reports of 3 patients from our Department, possible manifestations of sarcoidosis, as well as diagnostic paths to diagnosis, imaging and histopathological documentation, and diagnostic difficulties, were presented, as well as possible manifestations of sarocidosis observed in literature descriptions.