JBUON 2021; 26(3): 1016-1021 ISSN: 1107-0625, online ISSN: 2241-6293 • www.jbuon.com Email: editorial_ofce@jbuon.com ORIGINAL ARTICLE Corresponding author: George Sourvinos, PhD. Laboratory of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, 71003, Crete, Greece. Tel/Fax: +30 2810 394 835, Email: sourvino@med.uoc.gr Received: 07/11/2020; Accepted: 11/12/2020 Parvovirus B19 detection analysis in thyroid tissue paired samples: an observational study from a tertiary surgical oncology department Dimitrios Nasikas 1,2 , Alexandros Zafropoulos 1 , Emmanouil K. Symvoulakis 1,3 , Antonios Bertsias 3 , Stavros Derdas 2 , Demetrios A. Spandidos 1 , Georgios Sakorafas 2 , George Sourvinos 1 1 Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece. 2 Department of Surgical Oncology, Saint Savvas Cancer Hospital, Athens, Greece. 3 Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Summary Purpose: In the present study, we sought to investigate the presence of Parvovirus B19 in both abnormal and normal adjacent thyroid tissue specimens afer total thyroidectomy as well as the extent that this phenomenon occurs in a popu- lation group referred to a tertiary surgical oncology depart- ment. Methods: We detected Parvovirus B19 by Real-Time PCR in both abnormal and normal adjacent thyroid tissue specimens from 41 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy for thyroid disease (cancerous or benign). Hashimoto’s thyroidi- tis, thyroid gland weight, maximum size of the predominant thyroid nodule as well as sex and age of the patients were also evaluated in respect to the Parvovirus B19 presence. Results: Parvovirus B19 virus genome was detected in 21/41 (51.2%) patients in at least one of the paired thyroid tissue samples. No statistically signifcant diference was noted re- garding the sex, age, postoperative diagnosis, thyroid weight and maximum nodule diameter and presence of multifocal disease. The correlation between the incidence of Hashimoto thyroiditis and absence of Parvovirus B19 genome was sta- tistically signifcant. Conclusion: Our fndings showed high prevalence of Parvo- virus B19 DNA in thyroid tissue disease in the population examined. Its actual role of the virus and its potential impli- cation in the development or progression of thyroid diseases remain to be elucidated. Larger cohort studies are needed in order to validate a quasi-mutually exclusive role of Hashi- moto’s thyroiditis and Parvovirus B19 presence in thyroid disease in terms of geographical distribution. Key words: Parvovirus B19, thyroid cancer, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Real-Time PCR Introduction During the last decades and mainly due to the widespread use of neck ultrasound and its avail- ability and better sensitivity, there has been not- ed an increase in thyroid nodule detection in the general population. Although death from thyroid cancer is rare, certain carcinogenic risk factors have been proposed such as ionizing radiation at a young age and family history. The most common variation of thyroid cancer is papillary thyroid car- cinoma (PTC), accounting for approximately 80% of all cancer cases [1]. Although multinodular goiter (MNG) is classically considered as a benign thyroid disease with an estimated prevalence of approxi- mately 4% in western countries, recent data sup- port the existence of a possible higher cancer risk, close to that of a solitary thyroid nodule [2]. This work by JBUON is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.