Skull metastases from follicular thyroid carcinoma

Distant metastatic disease from thyroid carcinoma is becoming a rare problem. Physicians and the public are increasingly aware of minimally invasive methods of early diagnosis of thyroid malignancy, such as fine-needle aspiration with cytologic examination. Total thyroidectomy itself has become less associated with morbidity than it once was. We describe three patients with follicular thyroid carcinoma metastatic to the skull who were seen recently. Two of these patients had masses neglected for 20 and 50 years, respectively. The management of this disease entity is discussed.