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Patrizio A, Ferrari SM, Stoppini G, Palmisano E, Elia G, Ragusa F, Paparo SR, Balestri E, Mazzi V, Botrini C, Proietti A, Famà F, Benvenga S, Antonelli A, Fallahi P. Thyroid Metastasis from Primary Breast Cancer. J Clin Med 2023; 12:jcm12072709. [PMID: 37048792 PMCID: PMC10095414 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12072709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer (BC), the most commonly diagnosed malignancy, frequently metastasizes to the bone, lungs, brain and liver at advanced stages, whereas the thyroid gland represents a rare target site for secondary disease. We examined the most recent literature about thyroid metastasis (TM) from BC after we encountered a peculiar case of a 71-year-old woman who developed sudden dysphagia, severe hypothyroidism and hypoparathyroidism due to TM 18 years after the diagnosis of her primary cancer. Based on published data, the prevalence of TM in BC ranges from 3% to 34%, with a median onset time of 48.2 months, although longer time intervals are not infrequent. TM negatively impacts the prognosis of these patients, however thyroid surgery can limit the local disease burden. Therefore, we suggest that clinicians involved in the follow-up care of BC patients should consider a differential diagnosis of secondary thyroid malignancy when incidental lesions are diagnosed during radiological evaluations or local symptoms affect the cervical region, even many years after the diagnosis of the primary cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Armando Patrizio
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | | | - Giulio Stoppini
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Elena Palmisano
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Giusy Elia
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Francesca Ragusa
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Sabrina Rosaria Paparo
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Eugenia Balestri
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Valeria Mazzi
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Chiara Botrini
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Agnese Proietti
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Fausto Famà
- Department of Human Pathology in Adulthood and Childhood “G. Barresi”, University Hospital “G. Martino”, 98125 Messina, Italy
| | - Salvatore Benvenga
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy
- Master Program on Childhood, Adolescent and Women’s Endocrine Health, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy
- Interdepartmental Program of Molecular and Clinical Endocrinology and Women’s Endocrine Health, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico “G. Martino”, 98125 Messina, Italy
| | - Alessandro Antonelli
- Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Poupak Fallahi
- Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
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