Case report of a rare occurrence of multiple metachronous malignant neoplasm in a female patient

It is a rare case of a 53 year old female patient with three different malignancies occurring metachronously; papillary carcinoma of the thyroid followed by malignant phyllodes tumor of her left breast and finally acute myeloid leukaemia. As the patient in the report had received postoperative local ionising radiation treatment seven years prior to her development of acute myeloid leukaemia, the role of the exposure to ionising radiation as the causative mechanism in the development of this malignancy cannot be completely ruled out. This case report suggests that patients who have had a first cancer successfully treated are at higher risk of developing a second or even a third subsequent cancer; therefore, long term regular followup is essential for successfully treated cancer patients for the early diagnosis of the development of subsequent malignancies and their effective treatment.