Partial remission of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma with sunitinib. Report of a case and review of the literature.

Tyrosine kinase receptors have been implicated in thyroid cancer. Therefore, tyrosine kinase inhibitors may be used for the treatment of advanced metastatic thyroid carcinoma. The aim is to present a case of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma responding to the administration of sunitinib, a multi-targeted protein kinase inhibitor. A patient presented with metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma and hyperthyroidism. After euthyroidism was achieved the patient was treated by the administration of therapeutic radioiodine (131)I, radiotherapy and sunitinib, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Thyroglobulin levels decreased from 9,594 to 6,816 ng/ml after 1 month, 6 months later being 2,776 ng/ml. The lesion in the pelvis was 12.5 × 9 cm before treatment decreasing thereafter and the patient improved clinically. The administration of sunitinib resulted in partial disease response in a patient with progressive metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma. Protein kinase inhibitors may prove useful in the management of advanced metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Thyroid cancer in Greece. A tertiary center experience.

PURPOSE: to present the frequency and distribution of histological subtypes of primary thyroid carcinoma cases diagnosed at our Department. METHODS: we retrospectively analyzed the records of all patients with primary thyroid carcinoma admitted to our Department from January 01, 2002 until December 31, 2008. RESULTS: of 1,607 patients with primary thyroid carcinoma 1510 (94%) suffered from differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), 71 (4%) from medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), 10 (< 1%) from anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), 9 (<1%) from primary thyroid non Hodgkin's lymphoma, 1 (< 1%) from primary thyroid Hodgkin's lymphoma, 1 (< 1%) from squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid, and 6 patients (< 1%) suffered from carcinoma of ectopic thyroid tissue (1 malignant struma ovarii, 2 carcinoma in thyroglossal duct remnants, and 3 patients presented with thyroid tissue carcinoma in cervical lymph nodes). CONCLUSION: differentiated thyroid carcinoma is by far the most common primary malignancy of the thyroid gland. Papillary thyroid carcinomas constitute the vast majority of these neoplasms. Larger studies are necessary to better understand and evaluate the clinical characteristics, behavior and prevalence of thyroid cancer in our country.