Association of Papillary Carcinoma of Thyroid and Nonspecific Chronic Lymphocytic Thyroiditis and Its Clinicopathological Effects

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction The most common differentiated malignant thyroid neoplasm is papillary carcinoma. Association of concurrent presence of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis and its subtypes with differentiated epithelial thyroid carcinoma remains controversial. Objective To evaluate epidemiological factors of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis and association between chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis and its subtypes with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Materials and methods A total of 684 patients who underwent thyroidectomy at Teaching Hospital Kandy, Sri Lanka, for a period of two-and-half years from 2013 January were reviewed. The clinical and pathological characteristics were analyzed. Chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis was diagnosed by histology. Results Thyroid malignancies were detected in 14.2% of thyroidectomy specimen, of which well-differentiated epithelial thyroid carcinoma was seen in 82%. Chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis was present in 31%, out of which 73.1% were nonspecific chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis and 26.9% were Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Gender, age, and presence of thyroiditis were significantly associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Males were more likely to have papillary carcinoma compared with females (p = 0.013). Those with nonspecific chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis were more likely to have papillary thyroid carcinoma (p = 0.002) compared with those without. With increasing age, proportion of lymphovascular invasion in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma significantly (p = 0.010) decreases. None of the three factors mentioned were significant predictors of tumor focality, capsular or lymphovascular invasion. Conclusion Presence of nonspecific chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis is associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma at a given age and gender. Influence of nonspecific chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis on the prognosis of well-differentiated epithelial thyroid carcinoma needs to be investigated further with a larger sample size. How to cite this article Nawarathna NJ, Hewage SN, Ratnayake P, Seneviratne RJK. Association of Papillary Carcinoma of Thyroid and Nonspecific Chronic Lymphocytic Thyroiditis and Its Clinicopathological Effects. Int J Head Neck Surg 2016;7(4):213-219.