Unusual spread of the follicular thyroid carcinoma, metastases to liver and pancreas

Abstract

We report a multimetastatic follicular thyroid carcinoma(FTC) with match lesions between 18F-FDG PET/CT and post-treatment 131I imaging. The patient had a history of thoracic vertebra corpectomy surgery and liver tru-cut biopsy; both resulted in metastases of FTC. After total thyroidectomy surgery, the patient was referred to the 18F-FDG PET/CT to investigate other possible metastatic foci. 18F-FDG PET/CT showed increased FDG uptakes on a cervical lymph node, bones, lung, liver, and pancreas. After treatment of 131I, post-treatment iodine scintigraphy demonstrated iodine uptakes in the same areas as the 18F-FDG PET/CT scan and at the thyroid bed. All the matched lesions were concluded as a spread of the FTC. Here we describe an infrequent differentiated thyroid carcinoma case with metastases to the liver and pancreas. This case report also highlights the importance of 18F-FDG PET/CT in determining the extent of thyroid cancer.