Follicular variant papillary thyroid carcinoma with a twist

BACKGROUND: We report an adnexal lesion, which turned out to be a metastasis to the scalp from a left sided follicular variant papillary thyroid cancer. The patient has had history of right multi-nodular goiter 10 years prior to presentation. CASE PRESENTATION: A 75-year old lady presented with a cutaneous lesion about 1 year post left total thyroidectomy for FVPTC. She underwent surgical excision of the lesion and histology revealed it to be metastases from a thyroid carcinoma. DISCUSSION: Cutaneous metastases from thyroid carcinomas are relatively uncommon in clinical practice. A worldwide literature review reveals that follicular carcinoma has a greater preponderance than papillary carcinoma for cutaneous metastasis and that the majority of skin metastases from either papillary or follicular thyroid cancer are localized to the head and neck, with the scalp as the commonest site. CONCLUSION: Skin metastasis from papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma is an uncommon occurrence and these lesions should be differentiated from primary skin tumors. They are very important to recognize as early recognition can lead to accurate and prompt diagnosis leading to timely treatment. The scalp has been found to be the commonest site of cutaneous metastasis that may appear benign.