Abstract

Aryesh Ramlall, R Daya, Bulbulia, Bayat

Differentiated thyroid cancer is the commonest endocrine malignancy in Africa. Other entities such as metastatic disease to the thyroid gland are rare and poorly understood. In keeping with global statistics, the most common thyroid malignancy in South Africa is papillary thyroid carcinoma. With regards to metastatic disease; renal, lung and breast cancers remain the most common types to metastasize to the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland has intrinsic protective mechanisms to prevent the anchorage of metastatic tissue. However, certain disease states may predispose the gland to metastases. Metastatic disease may be synchronous or metachronous. This case study describes a patient with a primary tumor of the thyroid (noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP)), co-existing with metastatic esophageal cancer. To our knowledge, this is the first described case of these two tumors colliding with no prior data on the management and diagnosis of such a case. Further research is needed to adequately define and treat these unique tumors.