Successful pregnancy without disease progression of radioiodine refractory papillary thyroid carcinoma: a case report

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy is an unquantifiable risk to accelerate tumor growth of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), and whether pregnancy induces an unfavorable prognosis of radioiodine refractory papillary thyroid carcinoma (RR-PTC) remains unknown. CASE PRESENTATION: We investigated the impact of pregnancy on the prognosis of pulmonary metastases in an RR-PTC woman via a long-term clinical follow-up and consecutive computed tomography examinations and serum tests. After a successful pregnancy, the metastatic lesions shrank with serum thyroglobulin slightly fluctuated under sustained thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression, demonstrating a favorable outcome. CONCLUSIONS: This case study indicates that metastatic RR-PTC may not be aggravated by pregnancy under TSH suppression, and pregnancy should not be contraindicated in RR-PTC patients with stable disease.