RESEARCH ARTICLE


Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma Metastatic to the Skin: A Cutaneous Manifestation of a Widely Disseminated Malignancy



C. Rodríguez-Cerdeira*, 1, B. Sánchez1, A. Tarrio 2, J.J. Vilata3
1 Department of Dermatology, CHUVI & University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain
2 Department of Pathology, CHUVI, Vigo, Spain
3 Department of Dermatology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain


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Creative Commons License
© 2008 Rodríguez-Cerdeira et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Dermatology. CHUVI, Meixoeiro Hospital & University of Vigo, 36200 Vigo, Galicia, Spain; Tel: 0034600536114; Fax: 0034986276416; E-mail:carmen.rodriguez.cerdeira@sergas.es


Abstract

Metastases located in the skin from thyroid carcinoma, especially the medullary type, are rare and known to occur in the setting of disseminated neoplastic disease.

We report a case of a 72-year-old man, diagnosed as having medullary thyroid carcinoma, on whom a total thyroidectomy and removal of cervical lymph nodes were carried out. The medical treatment after surgery was 131I and hormone therapy. Later, the patient received 60Co teletherapy on the cervical region. On posterior examination, the patient showed a relapse of nodal metastases and pulmonary, hepatic and bone metastases. At that stage, he showed a single nodular lesion on the supraclavicular region. Therefore, a diagnosis of metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma was made. He had received palliative treatment for the remaining metastatic lesions. During the follow-up, the patient's general condition slowly deteriorated and he died a few days after the last diagnosis. No autopsy was performed.

Keywords: Medullary thyroid carcinoma, skin mestastases, octreotide.