Malignancy in Solitary Thyroid Nodules: Evaluation of Risk Factors

• Published in: Oncology research and treatment Vol. 40; no. 6; p. 360
• Main Authors: Uyar, Osman, Cetin, Bahadır, Aksel, Bulent, Dogan, Lutfi, Beksac, Kemal, Akgul, Gokhan G, Berberoglu, Ugur, Gulcelik, Mehmet A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands 01-06-2017
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment - methods; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sentinel Lymph Node - pathology; Sex Distribution; Survival Rate; Thyroid Nodule - epidemiology; Thyroid Nodule - pathology; Thyroid Nodule - surgery; Thyroidectomy - statistics & numerical data; Turkey - epidemiology; Young Adult; Thyroid cancer; Thyroidectomy; Surgery; Risk factors; Thyroid nodules
• ISSN: 2296-5262
• DOI: 10.1159/000464409

The aim of the present study was to evaluate patients with suspicious solitary nodules undergoing bilateral total thyroidectomy for the presence of malignancy.
141 patients with true solitary thyroid nodules who underwent bilateral total thyroidectomy at the Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Hospital between 2008 and 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. Parameters including demographics, ultrasonographic findings, and laboratory values were analyzed.
When the final pathology results were evaluated, malignancy was found in 52/141 (36.9%) patients. 49 (94.2%) of these lesions were papillary carcinoma. Colloidal nodules accounted for 30.3% of all benign cases. Nodular irregularity, increased vascularity, microcalcification, and central/lateral lymphadenopathy significantly increased the risk of malignancy. Among these factors, increased vascularity was the most important risk factor and microcalcification the second. Nodule size did not affect the risk of malignancy.
Irregular borders, microcalcification, increased vascularity, and detection of cervical lymphadenopathy were found to be correlated with malignancy in solitary nodules.