Concurrent Hip Pain and Skull Lump as the First Manifestations of a Silent Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

Follicular thyroid carcinoma is a slowly growing cancer with a generally good long-term prognosis. Distant metastasis from follicular thyroid cancer usually occurs in the lung and bones following a long period after diagnosis and treatment for primary cancer. Occult skull metastasis as the first presentation at diagnosis from follicular thyroid cancer is relatively rare. A 51-year-old woman presented with intermittent pain in her right hip that was treated due to the intensely progressed pain, motor weakness, and difficulty walking. The patient was then referred due to swelling in the forehead. Further evaluation revealed that the frontal swelling and the pathological femoral fractures were manifestations of distant metastases from follicular thyroid cancer. In the presence of swelling in the skull, the metastatic lesion should be considered as a differential diagnosis from a silent primary cancer. This report will be beneficial for general practitioners, surgeons, and internists to recognize unusual distant metastatic manifestations from silent differentiated thyroid cancer.