Left supraclavicular lymph node metastasis from ovarian cancer associated with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma, a confusing pathology-essential role of functional imaging

Abstract

The revolution of imaging in medicine leads to new standards of care, mostly in specialties like oncology, neurology, or endocrinology. We present a review of the literature and a case report of a 62-year-old patient initially treated for a benign gynecologic pathology and followed-up for 7 years clinically, with serologic and with multiple imaging techniques. There is an actual growing use of highly sensitive functional imaging methods, like fluoro-deoxy-glucose (F18-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in the evaluation of oncologic pathologies, staging, follow-up, and therapy response monitoring. This is the first case report described in the literature presenting the association of thyroid papillary microcarcinoma (MPTC) and supraclavicular metastasis of ovarian cancer. The study aims to underline the necessity of a complex and careful evaluation of each oncologic patient, due to the unexpected clinical presentation and rare association of diseases, sometimes leading to confusing management.