[A Case of Surgery for Skin Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in a Very Elderly Patient to Improve the Quality of Life].

ABSTRACT

The patient was a 100-year-old woman who underwent right lobe thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid cancer in another hospital around 1990. She developed local recurrence in 2010 and underwent anterior tracheal local recurrence resection in May 2017. Subsequently, metastases were confirmed in the lateral cervical lymph nodes, but the patient only received TSH suppression because of her advanced age. Multiple pulmonary metastases developed in November 2020 and supraclavicular lymph node metastases in July 2021, but the patient was under the care of a visiting physician on best supportive care. The patient was referred to our hospital in January 2022 due to the appearance of a cutaneous mass in the sternal incision area, which gradually increased in size. A well-mobile, well-defined, spherical mass was found in the sternotomy area. The maximum diameter was 19 mm. The cytological findings were consistent with cutaneous metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma. As the patient was elderly and had multiple pulmonary metastases, she was temporarily observed. However, by June 2022, the mass had increased from 19 mm to 33 mm with cutaneous discoloration. There was no tendency for multiple pulmonary metastases to grow during this period. The decision was made to operate in order to prevent a decline in quality of life due to self-destruction of the cutaneous metastasis. The tumor was removed under general anesthesia, including the cutaneous discoloration, and reconstructed with a rhomboid skin flap. Post-operatively, there was no local recurrence or significant increase in pulmonary metastases. It is suggested that resection of cutaneous metastasis of malignant tumors may be effective in preserving quality of life even in a 100-year-old elderly patient like the present case and should be considered as an indication.