Open AccessLate recurrence of a papillary thyroid carcinoma 37 years after hemithyroidectomy: Solitary, left cervical lymph node metastasis evident on fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography images revealing nodular uptake
Author(s) -
Hiroaki Kunogi,
Yutaka Naoi,
Takeshi Matsumoto,
Yuka Ozaki
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
world journal of nuclear medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1607-3312
pISSN - 1450-1147
DOI - 10.4103/wjnm.wjnm_72_19
Subject(s) - medicine , positron emission tomography , thyroid carcinoma , fluorodeoxyglucose , radiology , differential diagnosis , cervical lymphadenopathy , positron emission , lymph node , metastasis , cervical lymph nodes , pathology , nuclear medicine , thyroid , cancer , disease
In patients with well-differentiated papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), late recurrence is very rare. It is unusual that 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) shows hypermetabolic lesions in patients with well-differentiated PTC metastases. We demonstrate an exceptional case exhibiting a first relapse 37 years after hemithyroidectomy to treat PTC. Recurrent metastasis of a PTC should be considered as a differential diagnosis even if the elapsed time from the initial treatment is great. A left cervical lymphadenopathy, which exceptionally exhibited a hypermetabolic lesion on PET/CT, should be considered a metastatically well-differentiated PTC.