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A 69-year-old woman was diagnosed with left lung adenocarcinoma in October 2016. Surgery was recommended, but she declined it and instead completed chemotherapy and radiation together. The treatment produced a partial response, and she then entered regular follow-up.
About 9 years later, she developed a growing mass in the front of her neck. Ultrasound showed a thyroid nodule that had increased substantially in size over a year. A needle sample initially appeared benign, but because the nodule continued to grow and she had a history of lung cancer, surgery was recommended.
She underwent removal of the right thyroid lobe. Pathology and additional staining showed that the thyroid tumor was not a new thyroid cancer but a metastasis from her previous lung adenocarcinoma. Available imaging did not identify other definite metastatic sites.
After surgery, she was referred back to oncology and started pemetrexed and carboplatin chemotherapy. The delayed thyroid metastasis changed her lung-cancer course to Stage IV.
This is a lay summary of an account first published by PMC / PubMed Central. Read the original in full
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These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer