Clinical features associated with high pathological grade in primary thyroid lymphoma

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pathology
• Clinical Medicine

Background:

• Primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) is a rare malignancy.
• Accurate pathological grading is crucial for treatment and prognosis.
• Identifying clinical predictors of high-grade PTL can aid early diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and meta-analyze clinical features associated with high pathological grade (HG) in PTL.
• To identify potential predictive factors for HG in PTL.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of electronic databases.
• Inclusion of 24 studies comprising 1916 PTL cases.
• Assessment of associations using odds ratios (OR) with p-value < 0.05.

Main Results:

• HG PTL significantly associated with age ≤ 55 (OR=0.54), female sex (OR=1.31), lymph node involvement (OR=2.23), compressive symptoms (OR=2.61), absence of lymphocytic thyroiditis (OR=0.45), and elevated LDH (OR=4.90).
• No significant association found for age > 60, age > 70, or B symptoms.
• Age ≤ 55 was associated with lower odds of HG, suggesting a protective effect or association with lower grade.

Conclusions:

• Age ≤ 55, female sex, lymph node involvement, compressive symptoms, and absence of lymphocytic thyroiditis are potential predictive factors for HG in PTL.
• B symptoms do not appear to be associated with the pathological grade of PTL.
• These findings can help clinicians better assess PTL risk stratification.