Hobnail Variant of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: An Institutional Case Series and Molecular Profile

Abstract

The hobnail variant of PTC has an aggressive behavior, with a high incidence of infiltrative tumors and metastatic disease. Strikingly, all tumors in our series harbored a PTC-associated genetic abnormality, either a BRAF(V600E) mutation (80%) or a RET/PTC1 rearrangement (20%). This histologic variant warrants further study, and patients with this diagnosis should be observed closely for recurrence.