Dual dichotomies--when thyroid dysfunction and thyroid hormones get into the skin.

Guest Editorial Dual Dichotomiessâ When Thyroid Dysfunction and Thyroid Hormones Ge tinto the Skin Monica Dentice1 and Giuseppe Monfrecola 2 his issue of Thyroid features three brief reports illustrating related but rare complications of thyroid disease: cutaneous and subcutaneous invasion by thyroid cancer metastasis. Santarpia et al. (1) describe several patients with skin metastasis from medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC). They suggest that dissemination of this tumor be included in the differential diagnosis of cutaneous eruptions and nodules, especially when they are located in the upper part of the body in patients with a history of MTC. In another paper, Lou et al. report a patient with what appeared to be slin contamination after radioactive iodine therapy. Further investigation showed that the aberrant papillary carcinoma. Finally. Harish et al. (3) present a 60-year-old woman with an ulcerating cutaneous lesion of the neck due to contiguous extension of a non-hodgkinâs lymphoma of the thyroid. They were unable to ï-nd other published examples of this complication in thyroid lymphoma. Because of their rarity, few clinicians would even list metastasis of thyroid tumors to be one of the skin manifestations.