Diarrhea as a form of presentation of medullary thyroid carcinoma

Mariana Canelas Pais; Tiago Maia; Armando Peixoto; Leonor Meira; Andreia Albuquerque; Joanne Lopes; João Capela

doi:10.1016/j.pbj.0000000000000018

Diarrhea as a form of presentation of medullary thyroid carcinoma

Porto Biomed J. 2018 Jul 3;3(3):e18. doi: 10.1016/j.pbj.0000000000000018. eCollection 2018 Nov-Dec.

Authors

Mariana Canelas Pais¹, Tiago Maia², Armando Peixoto³, Leonor Meira⁴, Andreia Albuquerque³, Joanne Lopes², João Capela¹

Affiliations

¹ Serviço de Cirurgia Geral.
² Serviço de Anatomia Patológica.
³ Serviço de Gastroenterologia.
⁴ Serviço de Pneumologia, Faculdade de Medicina do Porto, Hospital São João, Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

A case is presented of a 57-year-old man consulting for chronic diarrhea. Based on subsequent findings (thyroid nodule and metastases), the possibility of metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) was raised. Thyroidectomy allowed diagnosing a multicentric left lobe MTC. MTC is a rare cause of diarrhea, but should be considered, especially in the presence of signs or symptoms of alarm or nonresponse to empirical therapy.

Keywords: cervical metastases; chronic diarrhea; metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma.