Abstract
Patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have an increased risk of malignancies such as Kaposi’s sarcoma, primary central nervous system lymphoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cervical cancer, but the relative risk of other malignancies such as papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is not well documented. The report describes the case of a 52-year-old HIV-infected Haitian male who presented with PTC. A post 131I therapy whole body scan (WBS) showed abnormal uptake in several areas indicating the presence of a number of micro-metastases. Our case raises the question not only as to the role of HIV infection in predisposition to PTC, but also how it alters the clinical course of the tumor.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12032-009-9281-1/MediaObjects/12032_2009_9281_Fig1_HTML.jpg)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12032-009-9281-1/MediaObjects/12032_2009_9281_Fig2_HTML.jpg)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
World Health Organization international histological classification of tumors. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 1988.
Carlisle MR, Lu C, McDougall IR. The interpretation of 131I scans in the evaluation of thyroid cancer, with an emphasis on false positive findings. Nucl Med Commun. 2003;24:715–35.
Regalbuto C, Buscema M, Arena S, Vigneri R, Squatrito S, et al. False-positive findings on (131)I whole-body scans because of posttraumatic superficial scabs. J Nucl Med. 2002;43:207–9.
Huic D, Medvedec M, Dodig D, Popovic S, Ivancevic D, et al. Radioiodine uptake in thyroid cancer patients after diagnostic application of low-dose 131I. Nucl Med Commun. 1996;17:839–42.
Leger AF, Pellan M, Dagousset F, Chevalier A, Keller I, et al. A case of stunning of lung and bone metastases of papillary thyroid cancer after a therapeutic dose (3.7 GBq) of 131I and review of the literature: implications for sequential treatments. Br J Radiol. 2005;78:428–32.
Muller-Gartner HW, Schneider C. Clinical evaluation of tumor characteristics predisposing serum thyroglobulin to be undetectable in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Cancer. 1988;61:976–81.
Mertens IJ, De Klerk JM, Zelissen PM, Thijssen JH, Sie-Go DM, et al. Undetectable serum thyroglobulin in a patient with metastatic follicular thyroid cancer. Clin Nucl Med. 1999;24:346–9.
Grant SLB, Reeve T, Wiseman J, Wilmshurst E, Stiel J, Donohoe D, et al. Thyroglobulin may be undetectable in the serum of patients with metastatic disease secondary to differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Follow-up of differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Cancer. 1984;54:1625–8.
Ma C, Kuang A, **e J, Ma T. Possible explanations for patients with discordant findings of serum thyroglobulin and 131I whole-body scanning. J Nucl Med. 2005;46:1473–80.
Khan N, Oriuchi N, Higuchi T, Zhang H, Endo K. PET in the follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer. Br J Radiol. 2003;76:690–5.
Bonnet F, Lewden C, May T, Heripret L, Jougla E, et al. Malignancy-related causes of death in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy. Cancer. 2004;101:317–24.
Basilio-De-Oliveira CA. Infectious and neoplastic disorders of the thyroid in AIDS patients: an autopsy study. Braz J Infect Dis. 2000;4:67–75.
Solares CA, Penalonzo MA, Xu M, Orellana E. Occult papillary thyroid carcinoma in postmortem species: prevalence at autopsy. Am J Otolaryngol. 2005;26:87–90.
Hoffmann C, Horst HA, Weichenthal M, Hauschild A. Malignant melanoma and HIV infection—aggressive course despite immune reconstitution. Onkologie. 2005;28:35–7.
Colonna M, Grosclaude P, Remontet L, Schvartz C, Mace-Lesech J, et al. Incidence of thyroid cancer in adults recorded by French cancer registries (1978–1997). Eur J Cancer. 2002;38:1762–8.
Davies L, Welch HG. Increasing incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States, 1973–2002. JAMA. 2006;295:2164–7.
Furco A, Bani-Sadr F, Guymar S, Molina JM. Metastatic cancer of the prostate in a young 40 year-old HIV-infected male patient. Presse Med. 2003;32:930–1.
Manfredi R, Fulgaro C, Sabbatani S, Dentale N, Legnani G. Disseminated, lethal prostate cancer during human immunodeficiency virus infection presenting with non-specific features. Open questions for urologists, oncologists, and infectious disease specialists. Cancer Detect Prev. 2006;30:20–3.
Rodrigues LK, Klencke BJ, Vin-Christian K, Berger TG, Crawford RI, et al. Altered clinical course of malignant melanoma in HIV-positive patients. Arch Dermatol. 2002;138:765–70.
Voutsadakis IA, Silverman LR. Breast cancer in HIV-positive women: a report of four cases and review of the literature. Cancer Invest. 2002;20:452–7.
Burgi A, Brodine S, Wegner S, Milazzo M, Wallace MR, et al. Incidence and risk factors for the occurrence of non-AIDS-defining cancers among human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals. Cancer. 2005;104:1505–11.
Clifford GM, Polesel J, Rickenbach M, Dal Maso L, Keiser O, et al. Cancer risk in the Swiss HIV cohort study: associations with immunodeficiency, smoking, and highly active antiretroviral therapy. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2005;97:425–32.
Frisch M, Biggar RJ, Engels EA, Goedert JJ. Association of cancer with AIDS-related immunosuppression in adults. JAMA. 2001;285:1736–45.
Li Y, Law M, McDonald A, Correll P, Kaldor JM, et al. Estimation of risk of cancers before occurrence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus. Am J Epidemiol. 2002;155:153–8.
Cadranel J, Garfield D, Lavole A, Wislez M, Milleron B, et al. Lung cancer in HIV infected patients: facts, questions and challenges. Thorax. 2006;61:1000–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lloret Linares, C., Troisvallets, D., Sellier, P. et al. Micrometastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma in a human immunodeficiency virus-infected patient: a case report and discussion. Med Oncol 27, 756–759 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-009-9281-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-009-9281-1