Thyroid carcinoma after successful treatment of osteosarcoma: a report of three patients

We report three cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma occurring after successful treatment of osteosarcoma. Only one of the three patients received radiation therapy (to the chest) as part of the primary treatment of osteosarcoma. The onset of thyroid carcinoma occurred between 8 and 16 years from the cessation of osteosarcoma therapy. All patients are alive and disease-free from both malignancies. Whereas the association between osteosarcoma and thyroid carcinoma has not previously been recognized, there have been five case reports of these two entities occurring in the same patient. Three of these cases occurred in patients with Werner syndrome. None of the patients reported here had physical stigmata of Werner syndrome or a family history consistent with a hereditary cancer syndrome. Thyroid carcinoma occurs infrequently in patients with osteosarcoma, but in view of the rarity of these two disorders, this association may represent an inherited predisposition to these malignancies.