Papillary thyroid carcinoma with massive metastasis in the uterine corpus: a case report

BMC Cancer

Jian-hong Wang¹  Jing Yu¹  Chun-ping Ning¹  Yong-mei Sun¹  Shi-bao Fang¹ 

[1] Ultrasound Department, Hospital of Qingdao University, Medical College, Qingdao, China, No. 16 Jiangsu Road, Southern Distinct of Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

关键词: Uterine;    Ultrasound;    Metastasis;    Papillary thyroid carcinoma;   

Others  :  859247
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2407-13-551

 received in 2013-07-31, accepted in 2013-11-05,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Distant metastases stemming from a papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) are quite rare. Here we report an exceptional case of PTC presenting with cervical lymphatic and uterine metastases. This is the first case report of a PTC with uterine involvement.

Case presentation

A 60-year-old Chinese woman came to our hospital complaining of discomfort in the throat that she had been experiencing for about half a month. PTC and cervical lymphatic metastasis were diagnosed after ultrasound examinations. A massive heterogeneous mass was found beside the uterus during the pre-operative checkup and a diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma was suspected after a thorough case discussion. However, it proved to be a metastasis from the PTC as determined by pathological and immunohistochemical examinations after the operation. The patient declined further treatments. She was followed for 22 months with no sign of recurrence detected.

Conclusions

In this report, an unusual case of PTC was presented. The patient had not only regional lymphatic metastasis, but also had a massive metastasis in the uterine corpus, which was initially misdiagnosed as ovarian carcinoma. This case is of interest because of its rarity and exceptionally good prognosis. The reason for the misdiagnosis was attributed to overlooking the possibility of a distant metastasis coming from a PTC. This case raises the issue that completing an iodine-131 scan before operating on patients with PTC may be warranted.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Wang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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