Abstract | BACKGROUND: The association of thyroid cancer and autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) has been widely addressed, with conflicting results in surgical and cytological series, likely affected by selection bias. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to evaluate the association between the cytological features suggestive or indicative of malignancy and AIT in 2504 consecutive patients (2029 females and 475 males, mean age 58.3 ± 14.1 y) undergoing fine-needle aspiration cytology for thyroid nodules. PATIENTS: RESULTS: The prevalence of patients with cytological features suggestive (Thy4) or indicative of malignancy (Thy5) was 4.5 % in the N-AIT group, not different compared with the other groups (N-GD, 5.6%; NGAb-, 5.0%; NGAb+, 4.3%). No difference was also found in the other categories (Thy2 and Thy3). When the same analysis was performed in the subgroup of patients (14.3%) with a histological confirmation, we found that the prevalence of differentiated thyroid cancer was significantly higher (P = .01) in the N-AIT group (67.8%) compared with the other groups (N-GD, 40.0%; NGAb-, 37.2%; NGAb+, 36.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our cytological series do not support a link between N-AIT and thyroid cancer. The association between cancer and N-AIT found in the histology-based series is likely due to a selection bias represented by the fact that the prevalent indication for surgery in the N-AIT group was suspicious cytology (60.7% of patients) more frequently than in the other groups.
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Authors | Maria Grazia Castagna, Valentina Belardini, Silvia Memmo, Fabio Maino, Andrea Di Santo, Paolo Toti, Anton Ferdinando Carli, Giuseppe Caruso, Furio Pacini |
Journal | The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
(J Clin Endocrinol Metab)
Vol. 99
Issue 9
Pg. 3193-8
(Sep 2014)
ISSN: 1945-7197 [Electronic] United States |
PMID | 24892990
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
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Chemical References |
- Autoantibodies
- Thyroid Hormones
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Topics |
- Adult
- Aged
- Autoantibodies
(metabolism)
- Biopsy, Fine-Needle
- Female
- Graves Disease
(epidemiology, pathology, surgery)
- Humans
- Logistic Models
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Multivariate Analysis
- Predictive Value of Tests
- Prevalence
- Risk Factors
- Selection Bias
- Thyroid Hormones
(metabolism)
- Thyroid Neoplasms
(epidemiology, pathology, surgery)
- Thyroid Nodule
(epidemiology, pathology, surgery)
- Thyroiditis, Autoimmune
(epidemiology, pathology, surgery)
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