Carcinoma of the thyroid: a cause of hypercoagulability?

A case of metastatic papillary carcinoma of the thyroid is described in which internal jugular vein thrombosis was the initial sign. Local factors, such as compression and invasion, were excluded as causes. A hypercoagulable state associated with deep vein thrombosis is known to accompany some types of adenocarcinomas or autoimmune diseases. We propose that carcinoma-induced hypercoagulability was the course of thrombogenesis in our patient. This is to the best of our knowledge the first report of an association between adenocarcinoma of the thyroid and a hypercoagulable state.