Ectopic thyroid tissue in the ventricular outflow tract: embryologic implications

The case of a 66-year-old female patient with a tumor located in the right ventricular outflow tract is reported. Histologic examination of an intraoperative biopsy revealed that the tumor was an intracardiac ectopic thyroid. We performed conservative surgery with partial resection of the mass. After 5 years, the patient is asymptomatic and leading a normal life. The authors examine the relation between the embryologic development of the primitive heart and the thyroid primordium and suggest the hypothesis of ectopic thyroid location in the right- or left-ventricular outflow tract.