Hemoptysis as the sole presentation of thyroid carcinoma

A 23-year-old man experienced hemoptysis in 1968, secondary to papillary carcinoma of the thyroid with metastasis to the lungs. The patient was treated initially with thyroidectomy and Iodine- 131 (131I), and subsequently with radical neck dissection. Following a period of fifteen years in which the patient was well clinically, he experienced recurrent hemoptysis. No other source of bleeding was identified, and the hemoptysis was attributed to the lung metastases of the thyroid carcinoma.