Abstract
Aims and background:
Thyroid metastasis from nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare occurrence. We report a case of thyroid metastases from nasopharyngeal carcinoma with a review of the literature.
Methods:
In April 2007 a 59-year-old man was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma; in October 2009 he underwent a thyroid biopsy that revealed G2 infiltrating spinocellular carcinoma with lymph node involvement. He was treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy at our institute.
Results:
Currently, after 6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with taxotere and gemcitabine, the patient is asymptomatic with stable disease and improved quality of life.
Conclusion:
According to the literature, the treatment choice depends on clinical disease extent. Surgery and/or chemo-radiation therapy must therefore be tailored to the individual patient in order to improve clinical outcome and quality of life.
MeSH terms
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Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
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Biopsy
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Carcinoma / diagnosis
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Carcinoma / secondary*
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Carcinoma / therapy*
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Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant
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Deoxycytidine / administration & dosage
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Deoxycytidine / analogs & derivatives
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Docetaxel
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Esophageal Neoplasms / secondary
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Esophageal Neoplasms / therapy
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Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
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Gemcitabine
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Humans
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Laryngeal Neoplasms / secondary
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Laryngeal Neoplasms / therapy
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Lymphatic Metastasis
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Male
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Middle Aged
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Multimodal Imaging
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Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
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Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / pathology*
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Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / secondary
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Positron-Emission Tomography
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Quality of Life
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Radiotherapy Dosage
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Radiotherapy, Conformal
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Taxoids / administration & dosage
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Thyroid Neoplasms / diagnosis
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Thyroid Neoplasms / secondary*
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Thyroid Neoplasms / therapy*
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Tomography, X-Ray Computed
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Tracheal Neoplasms / secondary
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Tracheal Neoplasms / therapy
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Treatment Outcome
Substances
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Taxoids
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Deoxycytidine
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Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
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Docetaxel
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Gemcitabine