Aggressive Course of Differentiated Thyroid Gland Cancer in a Patient With Insulin Resistance: Case Analysis From Practice

Abstract

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is usually characterized by a harmless clinical behavior but in some cases it can manifest itself as a metastatic damage to the bone system. The authors reported case from their practice of an aggressive DTC course in a patient with insulin resistance, accompanied by the development of metastases in the bone system. The main goals of the patient’s treatment at each stage of radioiodine therapy were to reduce the foci of metastatic bone damage in terms of their number and volume as well as insulin resistance as a risk factor affecting insulin-like growth factors. A clinical case analysis found that radioiodine therapy might be useful for disease control in cases with potentially aggressive variants of DTC. This category of patients requires careful monitoring of insulin resistance, insulin-like growth factors and appropriate antitumor treatment.