2023 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 277-281
Metastases to the head and neck from the body’s internal organs are rare. We report a case of simultaneous metastasis of renal cell carcinoma to the thyroid gland and submandibular gland. A 69-year-old man presented to our hospital with a chief complaint of swelling in the right submandibular region. Neck ultrasonography revealed an enlarged right submandibular gland and a thyroid mass. As a result of biopsy, the thyroid mass was diagnosed as metastasis from a previous renal cell carcinoma, but the enlargement of the submandibular gland was not diagnosed. Because no other metastases were found, the patient underwent a total thyroidectomy and right submandibular dissection. Histopathological examination revealed tumor thrombosis within the facial vein, which was diagnosed as metastasis of RCC as well as the thyroid tumor. No additional treatment was performed. The patient has been recurrence-free for one year and two months since the surgery. Although renal cell carcinoma is noteworthy because of its association with hypervascularity, cases of simultaneous distant metastases in the head and neck region, as in this case, or metastatic tumors that have developed only within blood vessels are extremely rare.
