CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1600307
Rapid Progression and Extensive Lymph Node Metastases of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in an HIV-Positive Patient: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Thyroid Breast Surgery, The Affiliated Yixing Hospital of Jiangsu University, Wuxi, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-induced immunosuppression represents a potential risk factor for tumorigenesis and cancer progression, though existing studies have not conclusively established the association between HIV infection and the proliferation/metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). We present a rare case of a 26-year-old male patient who exhibited rapid cervical tumor enlargement with extensive high-burden lymphatic metastasis following HIV infection. Imaging examinations revealed a cystic-solid thyroid mass with multiple lymphadenopathies in bilateral cervical regions, mediastinum, and axillae. The patient initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) upon HIV diagnosis and subsequently underwent surgical intervention followed by adjuvant iodine-131 therapy and Thyroid hormone suppression therapy. No recurrence was observed during the 15-month followup period. This report highlights a potential association between HIV infection and aggressive progression/metastatic potential in thyroid carcinoma, while highlighting the critical importance of personalized treatment strategies for optimizing clinical outcomes in HIV patients with concurrent PTC.
Keywords: Papillary thyroid carcinoma, HIV-positive, lymph node metastasis, Immunosuppression, antiretroviral therapy
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zheng and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiang Chen, Department of Thyroid Breast Surgery, The Affiliated Yixing Hospital of Jiangsu University, Wuxi, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.