A Case of Renal Metastasis from Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma Mimicking Renal Cell Carcinoma / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

Follicular thyroid carcinoma is the second most common form of thyroid cancer. It accounts for 10 percent of all thyroid cancer, and is found three times more frequently in men than in woman. It is well known that follicular thyroid carcinoma usually occurs in regions where it is hard for people to intake iodine. Most follicular thyroid carcinomas occur asymptomatically but occasionally reveal as masses in the thyroid nodules. The occurence of metastasis of follicular thyroid cancer in the lymph node is less than 10%, which is relatively low compared to that of papillary cancer. Follicular carcinomas are metastasized hematogenously and are common in the bone, liver, lung and brain. It is especially rare for metastatic follicular thyroid cancer to be diagnosed as renal tumor. We recently experienced and further investigated a case of follicular thyroid carcinoma that metastasised to the kidney in a 57-year-old woman, who had had abdominal distension. We report this case with a review of the reference.