Abstract
This paper describes a case of occult thyroid cancer which was found from giant cervical lymph node metastasis.
A 61-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of a left supraclavicular tumor in December 1981. He was diagnosed as having cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer after excision of the tumor. Five days after the removal, left lobectomy of the thyroid gland with ipsilateral modified neck dissection was performed. After surgery, recurrence occurred in the cervical lymph nodes bilaterally, as well as the subcutaneous tissue and the mediastinal lymph nodes. Also lung and sternal metastases developed. Recurrent tumors (except for the lung metastasis) were resected 11 times in a 7 year peroid. This patient is now alive 7 years after the initial operation, although lung metastasis is still present. The significance of the initial therapeutic approach to recurrent thyroid cancer is emphasized.
