Background : Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common type of well-differentiated endocrine malignancy. Distant metastases are very rare, occurring in about 5-7% of PTC patients. The metastasis of PTC to the pancreas is extremely rare. Here, we present with PTC that had metastasized to the pancreas.

Methods : A 51-year-old man with past medical history of PTC status post total thyroidectomy with both modified radical neck dissection and radioactive iodine. Six years after his initial diagnosis, Abdomen-CT revealed a new 4.7 cm cystic mass with 2.5 cm enhancing mural nodule in the pancreas tail. Follow-up pancreas MRI showed a 5.6 x 5.0 cm well circumscribed cystic dominant mass in the pancreas tail.

Results : The patient underwent distal pancreato-splenectomy. After surgery the pathological report revealed that the mass resected from the pancreas was PTC metastasis.

Conclusions : The metastasis of PTC to the pancreas is extremely rare. Therefore, when a pancreatic mass is found in a PTC patient, it is necessary to differentiate it from a primary pancreatic cancer.