Diffuse thyroid enlargement following metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma.

Abstract

A 55-year-old man presented with a rapidly enlarging thyroid. He had been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma nine months earlier. Computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US) detected reticular cord-like structures, but no nodules, in the thyroid. A fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of the thyroid revealed thyroglobulin-negative adenocarcinoma cells, thus establishing the diagnosis of diffuse thyroid metastases of lung cancer. Moreover, the fluid demonstrated milky chyliform effusion. This case suggests that the presence of reticular cord-like structures on US and CT may be a key imaging finding for the clinical diagnosis of diffuse thyroid metastases and that chyliform effusion may contribute to rapid goiter formation.

• Authors: Takaaki Murakami, Masato Taki, Takuo Nambu, Tomoko Wakasa, Tomoko Kato, Yuki Matsuda, Shin Yonemitsu, Seiji Muro, Shogo Oki
• Journal: Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) (Intern Med) Vol. 54 Issue 7 Pg. 807-12 ( 2015) ISSN: 1349-7235 [Electronic] Japan
• PMID: 25832947 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Radiopharmaceuticals
• Thyroglobulin

Topics

• Adenocarcinoma (pathology, secondary)
• Adenocarcinoma of Lung
• Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols (therapeutic use)
• Biopsy, Fine-Needle
• Fatal Outcome
• Goiter (pathology)
• Humans
• Lung Neoplasms (pathology, secondary)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Radiopharmaceuticals
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• Thyroglobulin (metabolism)
• Thyroid Neoplasms (secondary)
• Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• Ultrasonography, Interventional