After thyroid cancer was resected, we quite often tend to think of cervical lymphadenopathy when metastases to lymph nodes were confirmed. We report our experience with a case of malignant lymphoma when we thought it to be for thyroid carcinoma recurrence cervical part metastases to lymph nodes. The patient is a 59-year-old woman. Right lobe resection and lymphadenectomy were done to the patient with thyroid carcinoma in 1994. A tumor in the survival thyroid gland was confirmed in 1995. Aspiration biopsy cytology was class IIIa. In February 2007, the tumor of the survival thyroid gland was enlarged. Echography showed a shape irregularity of the tumor. Meanwhile, bilateral cervical part lymphadectomy also confirmed. We concluded it to be thyroid carcinoma recurrent cervical metastases to lymph nodes and performed a survival total thyroietectomy and a cervical part lymphadetectomy. Histopathology diagnosis showed it to be of a papillary adenocarcinoma of thyroid recurrence. However, there was no metastasis image of the thyroid carcinoma at the cervical lymph node. The diagnosis was malignant lymphoma.
Conclusion: As abrupt cervical lymphadenopathy was confirmed in the thyroid recurrence case, it is important to think of lymphatic disorder instead of metastasis of thyroid cancer.