Thyroid Incidentalomas: Scrutinizing the Mode of Detection and Evaluating its Contribution to Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis.

Abstract

In total, 576 patients were analyzed, with a total of 1014 nodules described. In 347 (60.2%) cases, the diagnosis of a thyroid nodule was incidental, mostly during imaging tests for other reasons. Incidental diagnosis occurred among all ranges of nodule diameter and between palpable and non-palpable cases, even within a small proportion of symptomatic cases. In univariate analysis, incidental diagnosis was associated with smaller nodule diameter, non-palpable nodules, asymptomatic cases, older patient age, less advanced stages (T1-2), and conservative management. After multivariate analysis, older age, euthyroidism, and smaller diameter were statistically significant. Incidental diagnosis contributed to the diagnosis of 53.8% of the cases of cancer. Advanced T stages (T3-4) were more common in non-incidental diagnoses. Our results indicate that incidental diagnosis of thyroid nodules is a significant contributor to thyroid cancer diagnosis in all ranges of nodule diameter, especially at earlier stages.