A study of clinicopathological characteristics of thyroid carcinoma at a Tertiary Care Center

To share clinicopathological data of thyroid carcinoma from a high volume Tertiary Care Centre in East India.

To share the epidemiology and clinicopathological presentation of thyroid cancer at a high volume Tertiary Care Center in East India.

Retrospective observational study.

Forty-two consecutive patients of thyroid neoplasm diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and primarily underwent surgical treatment from July 2005 to June 2012 were included. Retrospective data analyses of patient's records were done.

The statistical analysis was performed using Epi Info version 3.5.3.

Forty-two patients underwent surgery for thyroid neoplasm. Median age of diagnosis was 39 years. It was 6 times more common in females (female:male - 6:1). Papillary carcinoma consists of 63.15%, follicular carcinoma consists of 23.68%, and medullary carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma each consist of 5.26% of malignant cases. Out of them, lymph node metastases were seen in 17 patients (44.73%). FNAC shows positive predictive value of 89.74%.

In our study, differentiated thyroid cancers were found to be more common in younger age group. Cervical lymph node metastases occur in a large number of patients. Central compartment lymph node dissection with exploration of lateral neck and modified neck dissection whenever needed is helpful in all cases of thyroid carcinoma for proper pathological staging. FNAC is rapid and efficient procedure with high positive predictive value in diagnosing thyroid neoplastic lesions.