Thyroid diseases in women with breast cancer

Several studies have been undertaken to investigate a possible link between breast cancer and thyroid diseases, notably thyroid carcinoma and autoimmune thyroid diseases, but the issue remains unresolved. The aim of this study is to evaluate, in thyropathic women with and without breast cancer, the following effects: the distribution of different thyroid diseases, the breast-cancer-related prevalence of anti-thyroperoxidase and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies and the role in thyroid pathology of breast-cancer post-surgery therapy with tamoxifene.

One-hundred-ninety thyropathic women with breast cancer (BC group) were recruited, and compared with a control group (C group) of one-hundred-ninety thyropathic women without breast cancer.

Nodular disease is the most frequent pathology in both groups. The difference in the incidence of thyroid carcinoma is also not statistically significant. The biochemical increase in the positivity of autoantibodies in BC-group patients is confirmed, but there is no statistically significant difference in the rate of clinical autoimmune diseases between the two groups. No difference in the frequency of any particular thyroid disease is found between those patients who underwent post-operative tamoxifene therapy and those who did not.

It can be concluded, on the basis of these results, that it is advisable to reduce the clinical weight of the issue. A routine thyroid screening is recommended in women with BC for the management of chronic comorbidities, as would be for women in the general population having the same age and coming from the same iodine-intake area.