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Presurgical serum thyroglobulin has no prognostic value in papillary thyroid cancer.

AbstractWe investigated whether serum thyroglobulin determination before surgery for differentiated thyroid carcinoma may have any prognostic value with regard to tumour extension and disease outcome in a retrospective series of 71 patients with papillary thyroid cancer. Presurgical serum thyroglobulin levels were correlated with the size of the primary tumoral nodule (p = 0.006) and of the whole thyroid (p = 0.02). The same correlation was found in a control group of patients with benign thyroid nodules, confirming that presurgical serum thyroglobulin cannot be used for the differential diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma. Presurgical serum thyroglobulin levels did not differ among patients with tumor limited to thyroid gland or extending to cervical lymph nodes or invading outside the thyroid capsule or metastasising to distant size. In addition presurgical serum thyroglobulin levels were not correlated with the disease outcome after a mean follow-up of 9 years: no difference was found among patients in complete remission or with persistent disease or dead from thyroid cancer. In conclusion, this study failed to show any prognostic value of presurgical serum thyroglobulin determination that consequently should not be measured.
AuthorsElisa Guarino, Bianca Tarantini, Tania Pilli, Serenella Checchi, Lucia Brilli, Cristina Ciuoli, Giovanni Di Cairano, Paola Mazzucato, Furio Pacini (Affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Section of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Siena, Italy.)
JournalThyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association (Thyroid) Vol. 15 Issue 9 Pg. 1041-5 (Sep 2005) ISSN: 1050-7256 United States
PMID16187912 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
Chemical References
  • Autoantibodies
  • Thyrotropin
  • Thyroglobulin
Topics
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Autoantibodies (analysis)
  • Carcinoma, Papillary (blood, diagnosis, pathology)
  • Child
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prognosis
  • Thyroglobulin (blood)
  • Thyroid Neoplasms (blood, diagnosis, pathology)
  • Thyrotropin (blood)
  • Treatment Outcome