Lack of Variation in Inflammatory Hematological Parameters between Benign Nodular Goiter and Papillary Thyroid Cancer

Inflammatory hematological parameters like the neutrophil/lymphocyte (N/L) ratio have been investigated in many cancer types and significant relationships found with prognosis, for example. The aim of this present study was to investigate the impact of hematological parameters notably on N/L ratio and mean platelet volume (MPV) in papillary thyroid cancer cases.

A total of 79 patients who underwent a thyroidectomy operation in Findikli, Goiter Research and Treatment Center during 2011- 2015 period were enrolled in the study, 41 with papillary thyroid cancer and 38 with benign goiter confirmed by pathological examination. We collected clinical and laboratory data for the patients from hospital records retrospectively. Blood samples taken at admission were assessed for parameters compared between the groups.

No significant differences between papillary thyroid cancer and benign goiter groups were apparent in terms of age, the N/L ratio, MPV, white blood cell count (WBC), red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet, neutrophil, lymphocyte, red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and platelet crit (PCT) levels (>0.05). Only the level of platelet distribution width (PDW) significantly differed, being lower in the papillary cancer group (<0.05).

No significant relationship between papillary thyroid cancer and inflammatory hematological parameters including in particular the N/L ratio and MPV. The relevance of the PDW values remains unclear.