Thyroid Metastasis from a Renal Cancer: A Case Report

Abstract

The kidney cancer’s thyroid metastases are very rare. The renal cancer is called the tumor of the internist. The best known of this cancer metastatic sites are the bone, the lymph nodes and the lung, while the thyroid metastases are rare. We report on a 74-year-old man who consulted for a neck mass, dysphonia and dyspnea. The swelling of the thyroid gland was visible. The clinical examination revealed a large goiter (13/9cm), painful, fixed and suspect with a collateral circulation. The cervical ultrasound showed a basicervical mass and the cervical scintigraphy highlighted cold nodules. The thyroid fine needle aspiration revealed metastasis from a renal carcinoma. The cervical-thoracic CT scan showed a right renal tumor, a left laterocervical process and a mediastinal process with pulmonary nodules. A radical nephrectomy was performed and the histological exam showed a tubulo-papillary carcinoma. The targeted therapy was introduced with a clinical and radiological partial response. We highlight that a thyroid mass may be a metastasis which can be related to the evolution of a cancer that cannot be very frequent such as the kidney’s carcinoma. The fine needle aspiration of the thyroid nodules greatly helps the balance sheet in search of the primary tumor.