Clinicopathological and Molecular Features of Secondary Cancer (Metastasis) to the Thyroid and Advances in Management
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He, George
Lam, Alfred King-Yin
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Abstract
Secondary tumours to the thyroid gland are uncommon and often incidentally discov-ered on imaging. Symptomatic patients often present with a neck mass. Collision tumours of secondary tumours and primary thyroid neoplasms do occur. Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspira-tion, core-needle biopsy, and surgical resection with histological and immunohistochemical analysis are employed to confirm diagnosis as well as for applying molecular studies to identify candidates for targeted therapy. Biopsy at the metastatic site can identify mutations (such as EGFR, K-Ras, VHL) and translocations (such as EML4-ALK fusion) important in planning target therapies. Patients with advanced-stage primary cancers, widespread dissemination, or unknown primary origin often have a poor prognosis. Those with isolated metastasis to the thyroid have better survival outcomes and are more likely to undergo thyroid resection. Systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, are often used as adjuvant treatment post-operatively or in patients with disseminated disease. New targeted therapies, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors, have shown success in reported cases. A tailored treatment plan based on primary tumour features, overall cancer burden, and co-morbidities is imperative. To conclude, secondary cancer to the thyroid is uncommon, and awareness of the updates on diagnosis and management is needed.
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International Journal of Molecular Sciences
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23
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6
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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
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Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
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Nguyen, M; He, G; Lam, AK-Y, Clinicopathological and Molecular Features of Secondary Cancer (Metastasis) to the Thyroid and Advances in Management, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2022, 23 (6), pp. 3242