Long-term eradication of locally recurrent invasive follicular thyroid carcinoma after taxane-based concomitant chemoradiotherapy

A 46-year-old woman with history of radioiodine-refractory follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) presented with locally recurrent, high-risk, invasive disease. She was treated with paclitaxellcarboplatin concomitant chemoradiotherapy (CRT), which was well tolerated, resulting in complete remission and freedom from residual or recurrent FTC for longer than 5 years until her last follow-up at age 52. This case highlights the possibility of combining taxane-based chemotherapy with definitive radiotherapy (as CRT) for the management of locally aggressive recurrences in poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma, thereby resulting in rapid and persistent disease eradication. Even in the light of recent data on the potential benefit of novel targeted therapy agents in poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma, this approach in similar clinical settings deserves future investigation.