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Updated: Feb 10, 2026
Transoral Robotic Total Thyroidectomy and Bilateral Central Regional Lymph Node Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Published on: September 15, 2023
Spontaneous Regression of Metastatic Papillary Thyroid Cancer in a Lymph Node
Jien Shim1, Jianyu Rao2, Run Yu1
1Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Abstract:
Spontaneous regression of cancer is defined as disappearance of cancer in the absence of specific therapy. In thyroid cancer patients with biochemically incomplete response to initial treatments, spontaneous decline in thyroglobulin levels without any cancer treatment is a well-known phenomenon; however, spontaneous regression of persistent or recurrent structural disease has not been reported. We here present a case of papillary thyroid cancer in a 58-year-old female who underwent total thyroidectomy and two radioiodine ablations. She had persistently elevated thyroglobulin levels. Six years after her initial treatments, she had biopsy-proven cervical lymph node metastasis. The patient opted not to undergo any further treatment. Over the course of the next 10 years, without any additional treatment, the lymph node disappeared and her thyroglobulin levels decreased to almost undetectable ranges, implying near-complete regression. Our case illustrates that metastatic papillary thyroid cancer in lymph nodes can regress spontaneously.
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