Revisiting Types and Risk Factors for Thyroid Malignancy in a State Endemic of Iodine Deficiency Goiter

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction We have realized that recent rise in incidence of thyroid malignancy is partly because of incidental findings of cancer after resection for benign goiters. Therefore, we aim to reanalyze risk factors for thyroid malignancy in those patients who underwent primary thyroid surgery at Breast and Endocrine Surgical Unit, Department of Surgery, Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. Materials and methods Retrospective review in our database found 699 patients who had undergone thyroid surgeries between June 2007 and December 2014. According to the final histopathological report of resected specimen, these patients, operated for goiter, were divided into two groups: Thyroid malignancy group and nonmalignancy group. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the risk of age, duration and weight of resected specimen for having thyroid malignancy. Results The mean value for age was 43.5 years [standard deviation (SD) = 14.0); duration of neck swelling was 5.9 months (SD = 6.7); and weight of resected specimen was 157 gm (SD = 161.0). Around 26.9% cases had thyroid malignancy (n = 188), about 77.13% cases had papillary thyroid carcinoma and 17.6% had follicular thyroid carcinoma. Age associates with risk for malignancy (p < 0.001), but duration of neck swelling (p = 0.513) and weight of resected specimen (p = 0.955) do not relate with this. With an increase of 1 year of age, the odds to have thyroid malignancy increase for 2%. This is equivalent with 14.4% increase in cancer for every 5-year increase in age. Conclusion Our study has found that increasing age is the only associated factor for risk of thyroid malignancy. When managing elderly patients who has clinically benign goiter, differential diagnosis of thyroid cancer need be considered as well. How to cite this article Wong MW, Hadi IA, Musa KI. Revisiting Types and Risk Factors for Thyroid Malignancy in a State Endemic of Iodine Deficiency Goiter. World J Endoc Surg 2017;9(2):51-54.