Multi-modality surgical treatment for an increasingly common patient with morbid obesity and papillary thyroid carcinoma

The link between obesity and health disorders such as hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease is well known. When a morbidly obese patient presents with a new diagnosis of any cancer, it adds to the many challenges both the patient and treating physicians face. Not only is surgical resection of the malignancy more technically challenging, but also postoperative care such as therapeutic radiation and follow-up imaging is limited by the weight and size restrictions of the machines. With time to treatment being a key factor in limiting the progression of disease, standard weight loss techniques such as diet and exercise in the majority of cases take too long or fail to lead to adequate results. We present a case of a 48-year-old female with newly diagnosed papillary thyroid cancer who underwent gastric bypass surgery in order to lose enough weight to undergo radiation therapy to treat her metastatic disease.