Incidental metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma during neck dissection of larengeal carcinoma: Report of two cases

Abstract

Neck dissections are performed to control neck metastases of head and neck cancers. Sometimes, other unexpected metastases in addition to the primary tumor may be encountered in the neck dissection material. Especially in laryngeal carcinoma with subglottic invasion, the thyroid gland is included in the dissection material. The clinical diagnosis and management of incidentally detected metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma during neck dissection for laryngeal carcinoma are still controversial. Treatment for the primary diagnosis is the first goal. However, it must be kept in mind that the patient has an accompanying illness. The histopathologic type of the thyroid metastasis should be carefully determined without hustle. In this study, 2 patients who were incidentally diagnosed as papillary thyroid carcinoma during neck dissection for laryngeal carcinoma were presented under the light of the literature.