Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology Advance Access originally published online on September 25, 2006
Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology 2006 36(11):688-693; doi:10.1093/jjco/hyl093
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© 2006 Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research
Clinical Presentations and Outcomes of Surgical Treatment of Follicular Variant of the Papillary Thyroid Carcinomas
1 Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan Hsien
2 Department of General Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan Hsien
3 Department of Pathology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan, ROC
For reprints and correspondence: Jen-Der Lin, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 5, Fu-Shin St, Kweishan County, Taoyuan Hsien, Taiwan, R.O.C. E-mail: einjd{at}adm.cgmh.org.tw
Received February 17, 2006; accepted July 15, 2006
BACKGROUND: The follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (FVPTC) presents with biological and morphological features similar to papillary thyroid carcinoma. Pre-operative diagnosis of FVPTC and its clinical course is important in identifying appropriate surgical procedures.
METHODS: This study enrolled 85 patients, 68 females (mean age 41.4±13.7 years) and 17 males (mean age 50.1±12.3 years) with papillary thyroid carcinomas diagnosed as FVPTC. From the patient database at Chang Gung Medical Center (CGMC), 170 pure papillary thyroid carcinoma cases and 85 with minimally invasive follicular thyroid carcinomas of gender- and age-matched patients were randomly selected as control groups. All patients were categorized into high- and low-risk groups according to AMES criteria.
RESULTS: Of the three groups, 7.1% (follicular), 11.8% (FVPTC) and 34.1% (pure papillary thyroid carcinoma) of patients presented with lymph node or soft tissue invasion (P=0.0001). Additionally, 29.4, 11.8 and 2.4% of patients with follicular carcinoma, FVPTC and pure papillary thyroid carcinoma, respectively, presented with distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. Of the 85 FVPTC cases, 75 underwent pre-operative fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) examination at CGMC. Only 11 cases were diagnosed pre-operatively with papillary thyroid carcinomas. KaplanMeier survival curves for these three groups demonstrated that follicular thyroid carcinoma had a prognosis worse than both papillary thyroid carcinomas.
CONCLUSIONS: Most FVPTC cases were diagnosed as follicular neoplasm via pre-operative FNAC. In this study, FVPTC patients had a high ratio of distant metastases, few lymph node metastases and soft tissue invasion. Aggressive treatment was indicated for the high-risk FVPTC patients.
Key Words: fine needle aspiration cytology thyroglobulin radioactive iodine thyroidectomy prognostic factors
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