Solitary Brain Metastasis from Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in a Patient with Depression: Report of a Case

Abstract

Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid is a common thyroid malignancy with a relatively good prognosis. However, distant metastases may develop and become threatening, particularly to older patients, in a more aggressive manner. We report herein the clinical, radiological, and pathological findings of a patient with papillary thyroid carcinoma who had a solitary cerebral metastasis. The patient had been suffering from depression and had already undergone a hemithyroidectomy for primary thyroid carcinoma, and was known to have metastatic thyroid carcinoma of the lungs and bone. After the removal of the remnant thyroid gland prior to radioiodine (131I) therapy, he developed additional problems related to depression. Electroencephalography played an important role in identifying suspected brain metastasis and computed tomography demonstrated a space-occupying lesion in the left cerebral hemisphere. Consequently, an early removal of intracranial mass could be performed without any further life-threatening complications. Moreover, after removal of the brain mass the patient's depression improved immediately without the use of any antidepressants. This case report indicates the possibility that a patient's depression might be associated with brain metastasis from papillary thyroid carcinoma, and also suggests that an early diagnosis with the appropriate surgical management of a brain metastasis followed by radioiodine therapy could be valuable for achieving a prolonged disease-free period.

Cerebellar mass as a primary presentation of papillary thyroid carcinoma: case report and literature review

“…Brain metastases are rare (0.15 – 1.3% of all metastatic thyroid carcinoma) [ 4 ]. Although several brain metastasis have been reported, (Additional file 1 ) the primary thyroid carcinoma was diagnosed at the time of the brain metastasis [ 5 - 11 , 14 , 15 ].…”

Progress in Research on 5-HTTLPR under Stress and Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma

“…According to data published by the World Health Organization, the prevalence of depression worldwide is about 3% [24], and the prevalence of depression in patients with papillary thyroid cancer is as high as 30% [25]. A retrospective study by British scholars found that major depression may increase the incidence of thyroid disease [26]. and in-depth research on the mechanism of "gene x environment" of papillary thyroid carcinoma, and explained it to a certain extent, which laid the foundation for our research and provided some inspiration, but through our summary, there are still some shortcomings in these previous studies.…”