ABSTRACT
Survivin is one of the eight members of the human inhibitors of apoptosis [IAP], which appears to be differentially expressed in cancer cells. This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical usefulness of survivin immunostaining to distinguish between follicular adenoma and carcinoma of thyroid. This study was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical research. The study population was tissue samples from surgery patients at Shariati Hospital in Tehran, Iran. All samples were studied through immunohistochemical staining for survivin. Survivin expression was significantly [p<0.005] higher in patients with follicular carcinoma diagnosis than those with adenoma. Odds ratio of follicular carcinoma for survivin expression was reported to be 21.375 [95% CI: 3.283-139.177]. The study indicated that survivin can play an effective role in distinguishing follicular thyroid adenoma from follicular thyroid carcinoma