Papillary thyroid cancer with an initial presentation of abdominal and flank pain

Abstract

Purpose: Well-differentiated thyroid cancer typically presents as a thyroid mass. Common sites of metastases upon presentation include cervical lymph nodes, lung, and bone. Well-differentiated thyroid cancer with clinically apparent kidney metastases is rare, with fewer than 20 cases reported in the literature. In the vast majority of these cases, the patients had known thyroid neoplasms at the time the renal metastases were identified. We report a case of papillary thyroid carcinoma that presented with abdominal pain in a 25-year-old woman with no previous history of thyroid disease.

Study design: This study is a case report.

Results: The patient underwent radical nephrectomy for a right renal mass, which was diagnosed as papillary thyroid carcinoma follicular variant. During subsequent evaluation, metastatic disease was also identified in the patient's lungs. The patient was treated with total thyroidectomy and iodine 131.

Conclusions: Papillary cancer, which ordinarily behaves in an indolent manner, can have unusual presentation, including disseminated metastasis on presentation. Renal metastases are extremely rare.