{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T07:02:33Z","timestamp":1779692553709,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Surg."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Metastatic thyroid cancer originating from breast cancer is rare and often misdiagnosed in clinical practice. Early identification, diagnosis, and treatment are the main way to improve prognosis. This case reports describes a unique case of breast cancer metastasis to the thyroid 16 years after the diagnosis of breast cancer in order to enhance clinicians awareness to this rare disease.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Case report<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A 54-year-old woman was diagnosed with left breast ductal carcinoma\u2009+\u2009invasive lobular carcinoma (T2N2M0, stage IIIA) 16 years ago. Her condition became stable after radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and endocrine therapy. Recent physical examination indicated a C-TIRADS-4B mass in the right thyroid gland, which was indicative of thyroid malignancy. Radical thyroid surgery was performed for thyroid cancer. Postoperative pathology and immunohistochemistry revealed that the cancer originated from the breast and positron emission tomography\u2013computed tomography (PET-CT) indicated multiple systemic bone metastases. After multidisciplinary consultation, endocrine therapy and chemotherapy were administered. Currently, the patient is alive.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Breast cancer metastasis to the thyroid is rare. If a patient with a history of breast cancer has newly developed thyroid nodules, the clinician should highly suspect the origin of the tumor. Preoperative FNAB and immunohistochemistry are the main methods for diagnosis and surgery is the major treatment.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fsurg.2026.1787683","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T06:04:19Z","timestamp":1779689059000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer metastasis to thyroid: a case report and literature review"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"TaiXu","family":"Jiang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thyroid, Breast and Hernia Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Minzu University","place":["Tongliao, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"YueNan","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thyroid, Breast and Hernia Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Minzu University","place":["Tongliao, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"HongShi","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thyroid, Breast and Hernia Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Minzu University","place":["Tongliao, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liang","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thyroid Surgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University","place":["Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"MoFei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thyroid, Breast and Hernia Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Minzu University","place":["Tongliao, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"508","DOI":"10.1111\/his.14246","article-title":"Metastasis to the thyroid gland: a single-institution 16-year experience","volume":"78","author":"Ghossein","year":"2021","journal-title":"Histopathology"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"258","DOI":"10.1089\/thy.2010.0154","article-title":"Metastases to the thyroid: a review of the literature from the last decade","volume":"22","author":"Chung","year":"2012","journal-title":"Thyroid"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"264","DOI":"10.1016\/s2213-8587(22)00035-3","article-title":"The epidemiological landscape of thyroid cancer worldwide: GLOBOCAN estimates for incidence and mortality rates in 2020","volume":"10","author":"Pizzato","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol"},{"key":"B4","first-page":"187","article-title":"Metastatic tumours in the thyreoid gland","volume":"7","author":"Willis","year":"1931","journal-title":"Am J Pathol"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"631894","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2021.631894","article-title":"Case report and review of literature: thyroid metastases from breast carcinoma","volume":"12","author":"Wang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1035","DOI":"10.4314\/ahs.v17i4.11","article-title":"Breast cancer metastasis to thyroid: a retrospective analysis","volume":"17","author":"Zhou","year":"2017","journal-title":"Afr Health Sci"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"521","DOI":"10.1007\/s12328-018-0875-z","article-title":"Pancreatic metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma preoperatively diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy: a case report with review of literatures","volume":"11","author":"Murakami","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin J Gastroenterol"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"9890716","DOI":"10.1155\/2019\/9890716","article-title":"Multifocal metastatic breast carcinoma to the thyroid gland histologically mimicking C cell lesions","volume":"2019","author":"Ghias","year":"2019","journal-title":"Case Rep Pathol"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1533","DOI":"10.1245\/s10434-016-5683-4","article-title":"Metastasis to the thyroid gland: a critical review","volume":"24","author":"Nixon","year":"2017","journal-title":"Ann Surg Oncol"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1007\/s00595-013-0492-x","article-title":"Metastatic thyroid tumors: ultrasonographic features, prognostic factors and outcomes in 29 cases","volume":"44","author":"Saito","year":"2014","journal-title":"Surg Today"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"112","DOI":"10.1007\/s12022-017-9475-6","article-title":"Diagnosis and treatment of metastases to the thyroid gland: a meta-analysis","volume":"28","author":"Straccia","year":"2017","journal-title":"Endocr Pathol"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1002\/cncy.21494","article-title":"Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of secondary neoplasms of the thyroid gland: a multi-institutional study of 62 cases","volume":"123","author":"Pusztaszeri","year":"2015","journal-title":"Cancer Cytopathol"},{"key":"B13","first-page":"137","article-title":"Surgical treatment of metastasis to the thyroid gland: a single center experience and literature review","volume":"22","author":"Zivaljevic","year":"2018","journal-title":"Hippokratia"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1002\/dc.20311","article-title":"Metastatic breast carcinoma involving the thyroid gland diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration: a case report","volume":"33","author":"Owens","year":"2005","journal-title":"Diagn Cytopathol"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"530","DOI":"10.1002\/dc.23462","article-title":"Metastatic ductal carcinoma of the breast to the thyroid gland diagnosed with fine needle aspiration: a case report with emphasis on morphologic and immunophenotypic features","volume":"44","author":"Magers","year":"2016","journal-title":"Diagn Cytopathol"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2709","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm12072709","article-title":"Thyroid metastasis from primary breast cancer","volume":"12","author":"Patrizio","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Clin Med"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"146","DOI":"10.1186\/s12885-018-4054-x","article-title":"It is no longer the time to disregard thyroid metastases from breast cancer: a case report and review of the literature","volume":"18","author":"Pensabene","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMC Cancer"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"747704","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2021.747704","article-title":"Serum calcitonin-negative medullary thyroid carcinoma: a case series of 19 patients in a single center","volume":"12","author":"Kim","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1007\/s12022-018-9532-9","article-title":"Immunohistochemical biomarkers in thyroid pathology","volume":"29","author":"Baloch","year":"2018","journal-title":"Endocr Pathol"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1097\/PAS.0b013e3182a0218f","article-title":"GATA3: a multispecific but potentially useful marker in surgical pathology: a systematic analysis of 2500 epithelial and nonepithelial tumors","volume":"38","author":"Miettinen","year":"2014","journal-title":"Am J Surg Pathol"},{"key":"B21","first-page":"6691","article-title":"Detection of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer patients using multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and specific primers for MGB, PTHRP and KRT19 correlation with clinicopathological features","volume":"34","author":"Skondra","year":"2014","journal-title":"Anticancer Res"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"583","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejso.2004.03.012","article-title":"Metastases to the thyroid gland: the Royal Marsden experience","volume":"30","author":"Wood","year":"2004","journal-title":"Eur J Surg Oncol"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1555","DOI":"10.1007\/s40618-020-01282-w","article-title":"Metastases to the thyroid gland: review of incidence, clinical presentation, diagnostic problems and surgery, our experience","volume":"43","author":"Battistella","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Endocrinol Invest"},{"key":"B24","first-page":"2885","article-title":"Surgical treatment of intrathyroid metastases: preliminary results of a multicentric study","volume":"28","author":"Calzolari","year":"2008","journal-title":"Anticancer Res"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3017","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers14123017","article-title":"Metastases to the thyroid gland: what can we do?","volume":"14","author":"Tang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Cancers (Basel)"},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"691","DOI":"10.6004\/jnccn.2022.0030","article-title":"Breast cancer, version 3.2022, NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology","volume":"20","author":"Gradishar","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Natl Compr Canc Netw"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Surgery"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fsurg.2026.1787683\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T06:04:20Z","timestamp":1779689060000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fsurg.2026.1787683\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]]},"references-count":26,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fsurg.2026.1787683"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fsurg.2026.1787683","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-875X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-875X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]]},"article-number":"1787683"}}