Rare metastases of differentiated thyroid carcinoma: pictorial review

Abstract

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is usually indolent with good prognosis and long-term survival. However, DTC distant metastasis is often a grave event and accounts for most of its disease-specific mortality. The major sites of distant metastases are the lung and bone. Metastases to the brain, breast, liver, kidney, muscle, and skin are rare or relatively rare. Nevertheless, recognizing rare metastases from DTC has a significant impact on the clinical decision making and prognosis of patients. 131I single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (131I-SPECT/CT) can provide both metabolic and anatomic information about a lesion; therefore, it can better localize and define the 131I-WBS findings in DTC patients. In this pictorial review, the imaging features of a range of rare metastases from DTC are demonstrated, with a particular emphasis on the 131I-SPECT/CT diagnostic aspect.