ABSTRACT
Objective: Thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) are detected in thyroid cancer patients up to 25%. We investigated the prognostic value of TgAb positivity in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) after initial therapy. Patients and Methods: A database of 109 consecutive patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and therapeutic lateral neck dissection followed by remnant ablation for PTC between January 1989 and December 2014 was reviewed We recorded the patients' all serum Tg and TgAb levels over time to establish changing trends. Patients were classified as either positive or negative according to serum TgAb levels. The recurrence or persistence rates in both groups were compared. Results: Of the 109 patients enrolled 14 patients had TgAb positivity. Thirty-two (29.3%) showed disease recurrence or persistent disease during 101 months of follow-up. Twenty-seven of 95 patients (28.4%) with negative TgAb had persistent or recurrent disease, whereas 5 of 14 patients (35.7%) with positive TgAb had persistence or recurrence (P = 0.57). No significant difference in disease-free survival (115.3 ± 10.8 vs. 224.1 ± 16.6 months, P = 0.78) and overall survival (P = 0.59) was observed between TgAb positive and TgAb negative patients. Conclusions: TgAb status is not useful as a prognostic and predictive factor for clinical outcomes in patients with PTC in our experience
ABSTRACT
Background: The aim of this study is to determine the prognostic factors which affect both disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in thyroid papillary carcinoma with clinical lateral lymph node metastasis. Methods: One hundred and three papillary thyroid carcinomas diagnosed in adult patients received therapeutic lateral neck dissection between December 1989 and June 2010 were analyzed retrospectively. All of the patients were classified as American Thyroid Association (ATA) intermediate risk category. Age, gender, tumor stage and size, multicentricity and bilaterality, vascular invasion and extrathyroidal invasion, ipsilateral/contralateral lymph node involvement, lymph node ratio, extranodal tumor extension, and development of recurrence were the factors which might affect disease-free and OS. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. ROC analysis was used to find the cutoff value for lymph node ratio. Results: One hundred and three patients were followed median 101 months. Locoregional or systemic recurrence developed in 20 patients (19.4%) while 7 patients (6.8%) had persistent disease. In multivariate analysis, lymph node ratio (P = 0.003, relative risk [RR] 5.4, 95% confident interval [CI] 1.7–16.5) and contralateral lymph node involvement (P = 0.02, RR 4.9, 95% CI 1.3–18.5) were the independent factors affecting DFS where contralateral lymph node involvement (P = 0.009, RR 44.4, 95% CI 2.5–765.2) was the only factor which affected OS. Conclusions: Lymph node ratio and contralateral metastasis affect DFS while contralateral metastases only affect OS in patients with N1b thyroid papillary carcinoma