Sternal metastatectomy in a case of papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Thyroid cancer is the most common among endocrine cancers. Over 90% of all thyroid malignancies are differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTC). However, only 2%–13% of DTC present with bone metastasis. Radioactive iodine ablation (RAI) is the treatment of choice for metastatic DTC. However, RAI therapy is not as effective in bone metastasis as it is in lung and visceral metastases. Only few cases of surgical management of bone metastasis in DTC have been reported in the literature. Here, we report a case of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma with sternal and lung metastases, for which sternal metastatectomy was performed.