engleski

One nodule is papillary carcinoma. What are the other nodules?

Aim: To investigate characteristics and clinical significance of nodules in multinodular thyroid if one nodule is papillary carcinoma (PC). Methods: We investigated 97 patients with a multinodular thyroid (proved by ultrasonography) and pathohistological diagnosis of PC. We assessed following variables: age and gender, FNA diagnosis, PC nodule size and dominance, intraglandular dissemination (ID), regional lymph node (RLN) status, and distribution of diagnoses of the other nodules. Results: Among 97 patients with PC (87 females and 10 males, median age 52), additional diagnoses were: 64 patients had nodular goiter (NG), 28 had ID, 26 had Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), and 7 had follicular/Hürthle cell adenoma. 29 patients had more than one additional diagnosis. FNA diagnoses were PC or suspicious of PC in 95 patients, suspicious of follicular neoplasm in 1 patient, and inadequate material in one patient. Patients with additional NG or additional HT had a smaller average PC nodule size than patients without these diseases (13.2 or 12.9 vs. 15.2). PC nodule size positively correlated with the presence of RLN metastases (p<0.05). PC nodule was the dominant nodule in 64 patients (p<0.01). ID was more often in patients with a dominant PC nodule (p<0.01), and in patients without additional NG (p<0.01). Patients with ID (p<0.05), patients without NG (p<0.05), and patients without HT (p<0.05), had more often RLN metastases. Conclusion: Patients with PC and additional NG or HT had less often RLN metastases, probably due to smaller PC nodule size found during routine follow up of these benign diseases.

Thyroid; Cytology

nije evidentirano