Palliative treatment of generalized metastatic follicular carcinoma of thyroid after operation: A case report and literature review

Abstract

Rationale: Follicular carcinoma of thyroid is a rare pathological type of thyroid carcinoma, accounting for 4.5% of the total. At present, the main treatment methods include surgery, iodine therapy, thyroid hormone inhibitors, etc. Targeted drug therapy is very important for distant metastasis and iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer. Patient concerns: This clinical case is a 51-year-old male patient with follicular carcinoma of thyroid. Diagnoses: After 7 years of total thyroidectomy, multiple distant metastasis occurred to bilateral lungs, bones, multiple lymph nodes, etc. Intervention: After multidisciplinary consultation in the department of oncology, thoracic surgery, nuclear medicine and other departments, he received targeted drug therapy of Lenvatinib. Outcomes: After 3 months, his condition was partially relieved, and his quality of life was significantly improved. After 11 months of treatment, the evaluated efficacy was still in remission. Lesson: Late metastatic thyroid cancer is faced with dilemma of radioiodine refractory after traditional treatment. This will provide further evidence for therapeutic intervention in similar patients in the future.