Abstract
Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common differentiated thyroid neoplasm. Common sites of regional and distant metastasis includes lymph nodes, lungs and bone. 51 year old female patient who was a known case of PTC with a history of multiple surgeries, radioactive iodine therapy (RAI) and oral chemotherapy presented with a painful right parotid mass. PET scan demonstrated FDG avid lesions in the right parotid gland, cervical lymph nodes and other distant sites. Cytology report showed features of metastatic PTC. Patient underwent extended total parotidectomy with facial nerve resection, skin and masseter muscle resection and extended radical neck dissection. Final histopathology (HPE) report showed metastatic papillary carcinoma thyroid. Patient is currently on oral chemotherapy and on regular follow up. PTC rarely metastasizes to parotid gland and such cases have to be treated with surgery alone or with a combination of surgery and RAI based on tumour burden.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Not applicable.
References
Kini H, Pai RR, Kalpana S (2003) Solitary parotid metastasis from columnar cell carcinoma of the thyroid: a diagnostic dilemma. Diagn Cytopathol 28:72–75
Cancer Stat Facts: Thyroid cancer. Accessed 20 Apr 2021. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/thyro.html
Randolph GW, Duh QY, Heller KS et al (2012) For the American Thyroid Association Surgical Affairs Committee’s Taskforce on Thyroid Cancer Nodal Surgery RM; the prognostic significance of nodal metastases from papillary thyroid carcinoma can be stratified based on the size and number of metastatic lymph nodes, as well as the presence of extranodal extension. Thyroid 22(11):1144–1152. https://doi.org/10.1089/thy.2012.0043
Kilic K, Sakat MS, Gozeler MS, Demirci E (2017) Parotid gland involvement as an initial presentation of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 46(8):965–967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijom.2017.04.002
Mathew PC, Balagopal PG, Thomas S, Sebastian P, Preethi TR (2007) Parotid metastasis from carcinoma of the thyroid. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 36:965–966
Shi X, Liu R, Basolo F, Giannini R, Shen X et al (2016) Differential clinicopathological risk and prognosis of major papillary thyroid cancer variants. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 101(1):264–274
Slim I, Mhiri A, Meddeb I, Goucha A, Gritli S, Ben Slimene MF (2012) Malar bone metastasis revealing a papillary thyroid carcinoma. Case Rep Otolaryngol 2012:795686
Chen H, Luo D, Zhang L, Lin X, Luo Q, Yi H, Wang J, Yan X, Li B, Chen Y, Liu X, Zhang H, Liu S, Qiu M, Yang D, Jiang N (2017) Restoration of p53 using the novel MDM2-p53 antagonist APG115 suppresses dedifferentiated papillary thyroid cancer cells. Oncotarget 8(26):43008–43022
Pagano L, Caputo M, Sama MT, Zavattaro M, Prodam F, Mauri MG, Pia F, Alonzo A, Valente G, Aimaretti G (2013) Unusual metastases from tall cell variant of papillary thyroid cancer. Head Neck 35:E381–E385
Papp S, Asa SL (2015) When thyroid carcinoma goes bad: a morphological and molecular analysis. Head Neck Pathol 9(1):16–23
Ibrahimpasic T, Ghossein R, Carlson DL, Nixon I, Palmer FL, Shaha AR, Patel SG, Tuttle RM, Shah JP, Ganly I (2014) Outcomes in patients with poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 99(4):1245–1252
Wu ZH, Ge MH, Cao J, Lan XB, Zhu XH, Huang YQ, Yu B (2017) Parotid metastases from thyroid carcinomas. Int J Clin Exp Pathol 10(10):10467–10474
Markitziu A, Fisher D, Marmary Y (1986) Thyroid papillary carcinoma presenting as jaw and parotid gland metastases. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 15(5):648–653. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0300-9785(86)80074-6
Malhotra G, Nair N, Awasare S, Baghel NS (2007) Metastatic parotid tumor: a rare presentation for papillary carcinoma of thyroid. Clin Nucl Med 32(6):488–490. https://doi.org/10.1097/RLU.0b013e31805379ce
Hafez MT, Refky B, AbdElwahab K, Arafa M, Abdou I, Elnahas W (2015) Axillary lymph nodes metastasis in a patient with recurrent papillary thyroid cancer: a case report. J Med Case Rep 9(1):1–3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13256-015-0668-7
Farahmandfar F, Shakeri S, Askari E et al (2020) Parotid metastasis as the first presentation of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Iran J Nucl Med 28(2):42–45
Alzaraa A, Stone J, Williams G, Ahmed I, Quraishi M (2008) Direct spread of thyroid follicular carcinoma to the parotid gland and the internal jugular vein: a case report. J Med Case Rep 2:297
Pelosi S, Genden EM (2009) Medullary thyroid carcinoma metastatic to the parotid gland. Laryngoscope 119:253
Conway A, Wiernik A, Rawal A, Lam C, Mesa H (2012) Occult primary medullary thyroid carcinoma presenting with pituitary and parotid metastases: case report and review of the literature. Endocr pathol 23:115–122
Zikos P, Vafiadou M, Kechagias N, Vahtsevanos K, Mangoudi D (2013) Metastases to the parotid gland from a medullary thyroid carcinoma (case report). Oral Oncol 49:143
Garca-Arns JA, Maldonado C, Fernndez R, Gonzalo M (2014) Thyroid papillary microcarcinoma presenting as parotid metastasis: a case report. Endocr Abstr 35:331
Wexler JA (2011) Approach to the thyroid cancer patient with bone metastases. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96:2296–2307
Liu CC, Jethwa AR, Khariwala SS, Johnson J, Shin JJ (2016) Sensitivity, specificity, and post test probability of parotid fine-needle aspiration: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 154(1):9–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0194599815607841
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the department of robotics and surgical oncology, department of radiology and pathology of BLK-MAX Superspeciality hospital.
Funding
No source of funding for the study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Study Concepts: Surendra K Dabas, Nandini N Menon, Himanshu Shukla, Reetesh Ranjan; Study Design: Nandini N Menon, Sahibinder Singh Bhatti, Saurabh Arora; Data Acquisition: Nandini N Menon, Sahibinder Singh Bhatti, Saurabh Arora; Quality control of data: Nandini N Menon, Himanshu Shukla, Reetesh Ranjan; Manuscript preparation: All Authors; Manuscript editing: All Authors; Manuscript reviewing: All Authors.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest amongst the authors of the study.
Ethical Approval
The study is conducted abiding the ethical standards of the institution.
Informed Consent
A written and informed consent was taken for the procedure.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Dabas, S.K., Menon, N.N., Shukla, H. et al. Parotid Metastasis in a Case of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Case Report and Review of Literature. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 75, 1123–1128 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-022-03425-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-022-03425-2