[Differentiated thyroid cancer--a study of the pathomorphological variants in 216 patients]

Two-hundred sixteen patients presenting differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid gland are subjected to operative treatment over the period 1980 through 1993. The distribution of cases by histological type is as follows: papillary carcinoma--127 cases, follicular--58, and mixed type (papillary-follicular)--thirty one. In the group presenting papillary lesions, infiltration of the capsula is noted in nine cases, multifocal location--in five, and microcarcinoma--in twenty three. In the follicular carcinoma group a markedly expressed vascular invasion is established in four cases, multifocal location--three, and microcarcinoma--five. Assessment of the morphological patterns of differentiated thyroid carcinoma reveals a marked predomination of noncomplicated histologic variants, enabling the wide use of minor conservative operative procedures, compared to thyroidectomy, with a positive outcome. Over he past few decades, the incidence of differentiated forms of thyroid gland carcinoma shows an increase, and nowadays it caries in the range 60 to 90 per cent. Papillary forms are prevailing, while follicular carcinomas are detected in 8 to 20 per cent of cases. An overall shift of morbidity towards younger ages and female gender is observed.