Concurrent Subacute Thyroiditis and Graves’ Disease After COVID-19:A Case Report

There are many reports of subacute thyroiditis (SAT) that occurred after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but no such case has been reported in Korea. Moreover, the simultaneous occurrence of SAT and Graves’ disease (GD) is rare. Here, we describe a patient who developed SAT and GD after the second episode of COVID-19. A 27-year-old woman with no known history of thyroid disease presented with fever, upper respiratory tract symptoms, and painful neck swelling. Thyroid function tests revealed thyrotoxicosis, and thyroid ultrasound showed heterogeneous echogenicity of enlarged thyroid glands. Her initial clinical presentation was consistent with SAT after viral infection, with typical neck tenderness and spontaneous improvement of thyrotoxicosis without antithyroid drug use. However, this case had some atypical features, such as an elevated thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin level, relapse of thyrotoxicosis in short-term follow-up, and increased Tc-99m pertechnetate uptake, suggesting the coexistence of GD. About two months after methimazole (15 mg/day) was prescribed, she was lost to follow up again. We report the first case of unusual co-occurrence of SAT and GD following COVID-19.

Risk of Diabetes in Patients with Long-Standing Graves’ Disease: A Longitudinal Study

Background@#The detrimental effects of excessive thyroid hormone on glucose metabolism have been widely investigated. However, the risk of diabetes in patients with long-standing hyperthyroidism, especially according to treatment modality, remains uncertain, with few longitudinal studies. @*Methods@#The risk of diabetes in patients with Graves’ disease treated with antithyroid drugs (ATDs) for longer than the conventional duration (≥2 years) was compared with that in age-and sex-matched controls. The risk was further compared according to subsequent treatment modalities after a 24-month course of ATD: continuation of ATD (ATD group) vs. radioactive iodine ablation (RIA) group. @*Results@#A total of 4,593 patients were included. Diabetes was diagnosed in 751 (16.3%) patients over a follow-up of 7.3 years. The hazard ratio (HR) for diabetes, after adjusting for various known risk factors, was 1.18 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10 to 1.28) in patients with hyperthyroidism. Among the treatment modality groups, the RIA group (n=102) had a higher risk of diabetes than the ATD group (n=4,491) with HR of 1.56 (95% CI, 1.01 to 2.42). Further, the risk of diabetes increased with an increase in the ATD treatment duration (P for trend=0.019). @*Conclusion@#The risk of diabetes was significantly higher in patients with long-standing Graves’ disease than in the general population, especially in patients who underwent RIA and prolonged ATD treatment. Special attention to hyperglycemia during follow-up along with effective control of hyperthyroidism may be necessary to reduce the risk of diabetes in these patients.

Gender-Dependent Reference Range of Serum Calcitonin Levels in Healthy Korean Adults

Background@#Serum calcitonin measurement contains various clinical and methodological aspects. Its reference level is wide and unclear despite sensitive calcitonin kits are available. This study aimed to identify the specific reference range in the healthy Korean adults. @*Methods@#Subjects were ≥20 years with available calcitonin (measured by a two-site immunoradiometric assay) data by a routine health checkup. Three groups were defined as all eligible subjects (group 1, n=10,566); subjects without self or family history of thyroid disease (group 2, n=5,152); and subjects without chronic kidney disease, autoimmune thyroid disease, medication of proton pump inhibitor/H2 blocker/steroid, or other malignancies (group 3, n=4,638). @*Results@#This study included 6,341 male and 4,225 female subjects. Males had higher mean calcitonin than females (2.3 pg/mL vs. 1.9 pg/mL, P<0.001) in group 1. This gender difference remained similar in groups 2 and 3. Calcitonin according to age or body mass index was not significant in both genders. Higher calcitonin in smoking than nonsmoking men was observed but not in women. Sixty-nine subjects had calcitonin higher than the upper reference limit (10 pg/mL) and 64 of them had factors associated with hypercalcitoninemia besides medullary thyroid cancer. Our study suggests the reference intervals for men who were non, ex-, current smokers, and women (irrespective of smoking status) as <5.7, <7.1, <7.9, and <3.6 pg/mL, respectively. @*Conclusion@#Specific calcitonin reference range should be provided considering for sex and smoking status. Taking account for several factors known to induce hypercalcitoninemia can help interpret the gray zone of moderately elevated calcitonin.

Gender-Dependent Reference Range of Serum Calcitonin Levels in Healthy Korean Adults

Background@#Serum calcitonin measurement contains various clinical and methodological aspects. Its reference level is wide and unclear despite sensitive calcitonin kits are available. This study aimed to identify the specific reference range in the healthy Korean adults. @*Methods@#Subjects were ≥20 years with available calcitonin (measured by a two-site immunoradiometric assay) data by a routine health checkup. Three groups were defined as all eligible subjects (group 1, n=10,566); subjects without self or family history of thyroid disease (group 2, n=5,152); and subjects without chronic kidney disease, autoimmune thyroid disease, medication of proton pump inhibitor/H2 blocker/steroid, or other malignancies (group 3, n=4,638). @*Results@#This study included 6,341 male and 4,225 female subjects. Males had higher mean calcitonin than females (2.3 pg/mL vs. 1.9 pg/mL, P<0.001) in group 1. This gender difference remained similar in groups 2 and 3. Calcitonin according to age or body mass index was not significant in both genders. Higher calcitonin in smoking than nonsmoking men was observed but not in women. Sixty-nine subjects had calcitonin higher than the upper reference limit (10 pg/mL) and 64 of them had factors associated with hypercalcitoninemia besides medullary thyroid cancer. Our study suggests the reference intervals for men who were non, ex-, current smokers, and women (irrespective of smoking status) as <5.7, <7.1, <7.9, and <3.6 pg/mL, respectively. @*Conclusion@#Specific calcitonin reference range should be provided considering for sex and smoking status. Taking account for several factors known to induce hypercalcitoninemia can help interpret the gray zone of moderately elevated calcitonin.

Association between urinary sodium levels and iodine status in Korea

Background/Aims@#To evaluate the association between the urinary sodium concentration and iodine status in different age groups in Korea. @*Methods@#This nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional study used data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (VI 2-3, 2014 to 2015). We included 3,645 subjects aged 10 to 75 years with normal kidney function and without a history of thyroid disease. Adequate iodine intake was defined as a urinary iodine/creatinine (I/Cr) ratio of 85 to 220 µg/g. The urinary sodium/ creatinine (Na/Cr) ratios were classified as low ( 114 mmol/g). @*Results@#The median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was 292 µg/L (interquartile range [IQR], 157 to 672), and the median urinary I/Cr ratio was 195 µg/g (IQR, 104 to 478). Iodine deficiency ( 300 µg/L) were observed in 11.3% and 49.0% of subjects, respectively. The UIC was significantly associated with the urinary sodium concentration, and the urinary I/Cr ratio was significantly correlated with the urinary Na/Cr ratio (both p < 0.001). The distributions of UIC, urinary I/Cr ratio, and Na/Cr ratio varied among age groups. Low urinary I/Cr and Na/Cr ratios were most common in young adults (age, 19 to 29 years), while high urinary I/Cr and Na/Cr ratios were most common in elderly people (age, 60 to 75 years). @*Conclusions@#Iodine intake was significantly associated with sodium intake in the Korean population. Our study suggested that an adequately low salt intake might be helpful for preventing iodine excess in Korea.

Quality of Life in Patients with Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma According to Treatment: Total Thyroidectomy with or without Radioactive Iodine Ablation

BACKGROUND: Recently, there has been some controversy regarding the role of radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation in the treatment of low-risk differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), especially papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC). This study aimed to compare quality of life (QoL) parameters between patients with PTMC who underwent total thyroidectomy (TT) alone and those who underwent TT with RAI ablation.METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, patients with PTMC who underwent TT with/without RAI remnant ablation were prospectively enrolled between June 2016 and October 2017. All patients completed three questionnaires: the 12-item short-form health survey (SF-12), thyroid cancer-specific quality of life (THYCA-QoL) questionnaire, and fear of progression (FoP) questionnaire.RESULTS: The TT and TT with RAI groups comprised 107 and 182 patients, respectively. The TT with RAI group had significantly lower serum thyrotropin (TSH) levels than the TT group. However, after matching for TSH levels between the groups (n=100 in both groups), there were no significant differences in baseline characteristics. According to the SF-12, the score for general health was significantly lower in the TT with RAI group than in the TT group (P=0.047). The THYCA-QoL also showed a significant difference in the “felt chilly” score between groups (P=0.023). No significant differences in FoP scores were observed between the groups.CONCLUSION: Patients with PTMC who underwent TT with RAI ablation experienced more health-related problems than those managed with TT alone. These findings support the idea that RAI ablation should be carefully considered in patients with low-risk DTCs.

Clinical Outcomes after Early and Delayed Radioiodine Remnant Ablation in Patients with Low-Risk Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Background@#The clinical outcomes of delayed radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA) therapy in patients with low-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) are unclear. We aimed to evaluate the clinical impact of the interval between total thyroidectomy (TT) and RRA therapy in patients with low-risk PTC. @*Methods@#We included 526 patients who underwent TT and RRA for low-risk PTC with a primary tumor size of >1 cm between 2000 and 2012. Patients were divided into the early (3 months after TT considering other prognostic factors.

Clinical Outcomes after Early and Delayed Radioiodine Remnant Ablation in Patients with Low-Risk Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Background@#The clinical outcomes of delayed radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA) therapy in patients with low-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) are unclear. We aimed to evaluate the clinical impact of the interval between total thyroidectomy (TT) and RRA therapy in patients with low-risk PTC. @*Methods@#We included 526 patients who underwent TT and RRA for low-risk PTC with a primary tumor size of >1 cm between 2000 and 2012. Patients were divided into the early (3 months after TT considering other prognostic factors.

Hepatoid Carcinoma of the Pancreas Presenting as Acute Pancreatitis / 대한내과학회지

Hepatoid carcinoma is extrahepatic neoplasm showing similar morphologic, immunohistochemical features with hepatocellular carcinoma. It's a very rare disease and has been reported most frequently in the stomach. Herein, we report a case of hepatoid carcinoma of pancreas presented with acute pancreatitis. The hepatoid carcinoma was diagnosed by his needle biopsy specimen and it showed pleomorphic nuclei and predominantly eosinophilic and occasionally clear cytoplasm in hematoxylin and eosin staining, and positive for HepPar-1 and cytokeratin 19 in immunohistochemical staining. Surgical treatment seems to be the best choice, if possible. However, there is no standard regimen for palliative chemotherapy. In our case, the patient was treated with 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), folinic acid, irinotecan, oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX). The response was stable disease up to 4 month of follow up.

Development of Tracheoesophageal Fistula after the Use of Sorafenib in Locally Advanced Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: a Case Report

Sorafenib, an oral multi-kinase inhibitor, is used for the treatment of patients with radioactive iodine (RAI) refractory differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) with favorable outcomes. Some unusual but fatal adverse effects are known for this drug and tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) is one of them, which has never been reported in thyroid cancer patients. We present a successfully treated patient who had developed TEF associated with rapid tumor regression during sorafenib treatment for locally advanced papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Sorafenib was discontinued and feeding jejunostomy tube was placed for nutritional support. 3 months later, the TEF had successfully healed and there was no visible fistula track or interval change of the viable tumor during 15 months of follow-up. Identifying patients at high risk for this potential complication and paying special attention when prescribing anti-angiogenics to these patients are crucial to prevent associated morbidity and mortality.

Incidental Detection of Struma Ovarii on the Whole Body Scan in a Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Patient

Post-therapeutic whole body scan (RxWBS) after radioactive iodine (RAI) remnant ablation (RRA) is useful for detect recurrent or metastatic foci of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) after total thyroidectomy. However, there is rare possibility of false positive iodine uptake in WBS. Here, we report a case of a 72-year-old woman, who underwent RRA after total thyroidectomy due to follicular variant papillary thyroid carcinoma. There is an abnormal iodine uptake in RxWBS in pelvic cavity. Additional single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-computed tomography (CT) imaging showed an intensive I-131 avid mass in left ovary. There was a multiple calcified mass in left ovary and enhancing wall thickening in left ureter with hydronephrosis in contrast enhanced CT. She underwent hysterectomy, oophorectomy, left ureterectomy and nephrectomy and diagnosed as mature cystic teratoma with thyroid tissues and ureter cancer. Struma ovarii should be considered if there was abnormal RAI uptake in pelvic cavity. I-131 SPECT-CT is useful for differential diagnosis of abnormal iodine uptakes in WBS.

Incidental Detection of Struma Ovarii on the Whole Body Scan in a Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Patient

Post-therapeutic whole body scan (RxWBS) after radioactive iodine (RAI) remnant ablation (RRA) is useful for detect recurrent or metastatic foci of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) after total thyroidectomy. However, there is rare possibility of false positive iodine uptake in WBS. Here, we report a case of a 72-year-old woman, who underwent RRA after total thyroidectomy due to follicular variant papillary thyroid carcinoma. There is an abnormal iodine uptake in RxWBS in pelvic cavity. Additional single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-computed tomography (CT) imaging showed an intensive I-131 avid mass in left ovary. There was a multiple calcified mass in left ovary and enhancing wall thickening in left ureter with hydronephrosis in contrast enhanced CT. She underwent hysterectomy, oophorectomy, left ureterectomy and nephrectomy and diagnosed as mature cystic teratoma with thyroid tissues and ureter cancer. Struma ovarii should be considered if there was abnormal RAI uptake in pelvic cavity. I-131 SPECT-CT is useful for differential diagnosis of abnormal iodine uptakes in WBS.