From autoimmune thyroid disease and CREST syndrome to incidental discovery of incipient gastric carcinoma: a case report

Lisandra Damian, Maria Christina Ungureanu, Cristina Mihaela Ghiciuc, Francesca Romana Patacchioli, Lucia Corina Dima-Cozma, Sebastian Cozma, Cătălina Elena Lupușoru

Abstract


Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs), including Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (chronic autoimmune thyroiditis), are the most common organ-specific autoimmune disorders, occurring mostly in middle-aged women. AITDs are often associated with other autoimmune diseases such as vitiligo or systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), but there have been only few reports of AITDs concurring with CREST syndrome (Calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, Esophageal dysmotility, Sclerodactyly and Telangiectasias), a limited form of scleroderma. Furthermore, these disorders have been associated with lymphoid malignancies, but only rarely with other cancers such as lung or breast. We report the case of a 59 year-old female patient who presented at the Endocrinology clinic for vertigo, dysphoria and fatigue. Clinical examination and serologic determinations revealed the diagnosis of an overlap syndrome between euthyroid autoimmune thyroiditis and CREST syndrome. Further investigations led to the detection of an incipient gastric adenocarcinoma which was promptly treated with total gastrectomy.

Keywords


autoimmune thyroid disease, CREST syndrome, scleroderma, gastric carcinoma

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22551/2015.06.0202.10036

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