Miliary Pulmonary Nodules in a 9-Year-Old Child – The Search for the Origin and its Consequence for Treatment

Introduction

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy, although representing less than 1% of all human tumors. Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) includes the papillary and follicular histotypes and their variants [Pacini F. et al., The Medical clinics of North America (2012), 2: 369–383]. Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type (approx. 80%) and has a good prognosis, leading to a survival rate of 93% at 10 years [Erden E. et al., Case reports in medicine (2013)]. Although PTC commonly metastasizes to regional lymph nodes, distant metastases may rarely appear and occur in 5% of the patients. The lung and the bones are the most common sites for distant metastases [Borschitz T et al., Thyroid (2010), 20: 93–98.]. Here, we demonstrate a rare case of a pediatric female patient who presented bilateral miliary nodules in the lung on chest X-ray.

Publication History

Article published online:
29 March 2023