Volume 1 • Issue 3 • 1000115 Thyroid Disorders Ther ISSN: 2167-7948 JTDT, an open access journal Research Article Open Access Nikhil Nanjappa et al., Thyroid Disorders Ther 2012, 1:3 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-7948.1000115 Review Article Open Access Thyroid Disorders & Therapy Thyroid Carcinoma (Tc) in Nodular Goitre Nikhil Nanjappa BA 1 *, Alok Mohanty 1 , Tirou Aroul T 1 , Robinson Smile S 1 and Dhananjay Kotasthane 2 1 Department of Surgery, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute, Pondicherry, India 2 Department of Pathology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute, Pondicherry, India *Corresponding author: Nikhil Nanjappa BA, Department of Surgery, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute, Pondicherry, India, Tel: +91- 9843972693; E-mail: drnikhilnanjappa@gmail.com Received May 28, 2012; Accepted July 25, 2012; Published July 27, 2012 Citation: Nikhil Nanjappa BA, Alok Mohanty, Tirou Aroul T, Robinson Smile S, Dhananjay Kotasthane (2012) Thyroid Carcinoma (Tc) in Nodular Goitre. Thyroid Disorders Ther 1:115. doi:10.4172/2167-7948.1000115 Copyright: © 2012 Nikhil Nanjappa BA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Keywords: Nodular goitre; hyroid carcinoma; Papillary carcinoma thyroid Abbreviations: MNG: Multi-Nodular Goitre; STN: Solitary hyroid Nodule; TC: hyroid Carcinoma; FNAC: Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology; FNAB: Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy Background he incidence of malignancy in MNG has been found to vary from 4% to 17% [1]. hyroid carcinoma is a relatively rare tumour but represents the most frequent form of endocrine cancer [2]. In contradiction to earlier studies, the incidence of malignancy in STN is not signiicantly higher than MNG [3]. hese studies alluded to the fact that the risk of malignancy in both MNG and STN is not negligible. herefore, both conditions should be carefully evaluated to detect any underlying malignant foci, which may require further surgical intervention [4]. his case series aims to study the incidence and pathology of malignancy in patients operated for presumably benign nodular thyroid disease. Patients and Methods A total of 175 patients who underwent surgery for presumably benign nodular thyroid disease between January 2004 and March 2012 were studied, prospectively. hese patients underwent hemi, subtotal, total thyroidectomy. Histopathology reports of these patients were compiled, analysed and studied. he age and size diference between benign and malignant nodular thyroid disease were analysed. he incidence of malignancy was separately studied for MNG and STN. he pathological variety of the malignancy in MNG and STN were studied. Chi square test was used to calculate the statistical signiicance. Results Of the 175 patients who were operated for presumably benign thyroid disease, 37 patients (21.1%) had malignancy reported on histopathology examination (Table 1). Abstract Objective: To study the incidence and pathology of thyroid malignancy in patients operated for presumably benign nodular thyroid disease (multi nodular goitre (MNG) & solitary thyroid nodule (STN)). Methods: A total of 175 patients who underwent surgery for presumably benign nodular thyroid disease between January 2004 and March 2012 were studied, prospectively. These patients underwent hemi, subtotal, total thyroidectomy. Results: 37 of the 175 patients (21%) had malignancy on inal histopathological examination. The mean age of patients with benign disease was 46.4 years and that with malignancies was 50.6 years. Mean size of nodules was 4.28 +/- 1.48 cm in the benign group and 4.21 +/- 1.48 cm in the malignant group. All those with MNG, 14/14 (100%) were papillary carcinoma and those with STN, 22/23 (95.7%) were papillary carcinoma. Among the papillary carcinomas, follicular variant was 15 and the micropapillary variant was 3. Conclusions: The incidence of malignancy in nodular goiter is higher than what is usually reported. There was no signiicant difference in incidence of malignancy between MNG and STN (P value: 0.262). Papillary carcinoma was signiicantly higher in nodular goiter (97.3%). Papillary carcinoma was found in all patients who presented with MNG and all but one who presented with STN. Follicular variant of papillary carcinoma was more common than the micropapillary variant (40.5% and 8.1% respectively). he mean age of patients with nodular goitre was 47.4 years (SD: 15.05). Patients with benign goitres had a mean age of 46.4 years (SD: 15.21). he malignant goitres occur at an older age group, with a mean age of 50.6 years (SD: 15.36). Among the 175 patients, 160 (91.4%) were female. 77 presented with MNG, of which 68 (88.3%) were female and 9 (11.7%) male. 12 of 68 females and 2 of the 9 males had TC. 98 patients presented as STN, of which 92 (93.9%) were female and 6 (6.1%) male. 22 of the 92 females and 1 of the 6 males had TC (Table 2). Mean size of nodules was 4.28 +/- 1.48 cm in the benign group and 4.21 +/- 1.48 cm in the malignant group. here were no signiicant results observed. Out of the 37 patients with thyroid carcinoma (TC), 23 (62.1%) presented as STN and 14 (37.9%) as MNG on clinical examination. he P value was 0.262 and was not signiicant. PRE OP Diagnosis No. of patients (%) TC (%) P value MNG 77 (44) 14 (37.8) 0.543 STN 98 (56) 23 (62.2) 0.262 TOTAL 175 (100) 37 (100) - Table 1: Thyroid carcinoma in nodular thyroid disease.