Prognostic factors for incomplete response in thyroid microcarcinoma: an analysis of initial response to therapy in 517 patients

ABSTRACT Objective: Although thyroid microcarcinoma (TMC) usually has a favorable prognosis, some patients present a higher risk of disease recurrence or persistence. Thus, we aimed at identifying possible risk factors associated with an incomplete response to therapy in TMC. Subjects and methods: This was a retrospective study of 517 patients with TMC treated with total thyroidectomy, with or without radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy, reclassified after 1.1 ± 0.4 years according to the response to treatment into "favorable" (excellent/indeterminate) or "unfavorable" (biochemical/structural incomplete) responses. We evaluated participants' age, sex, tumor size, histological variants, multifocality, presence of vascular/lymphatic/perineural invasion, extrathyroidal extension, metastatic lymph nodes (LN), and distant metastasis. The effect of RAI therapy on the response range was analyzed in a given subgroup. Results: The mean age observed was 46.4 ± 12.0 years, and 89.7% were female. We noted 97.5% with papillary carcinoma, 27.8% with multifocality and 11.2% with LN metastasis. Although the majority of patients had a low risk of recurrence/persistence (78%), 75% were submitted to RAI therapy. Incomplete response (20.7%) was associated with multifocality (p=0.041; OR=1.619) and metastatic LN (p=0.041; OR=1.868). These variables were strongly correlated (p=0.000; OR=3.283). No cut-off of tumor size was identified as a predictor of incomplete response by the receiver operating curve analysis. RAI treatment did not influence the response of patients with multifocality or LN metastasis. Conclusion: Multifocality and LN metastasis are independent risk factors for incomplete response in TMC patients and are strongly correlated. Additional RAI therapy was not associated with a more favorable response in these subgroups.

Miocárdio não compactado isolado ventricular esquerdo: relato de caso / Isolated noncompacted left ventricular myocardium: case report

O miocárdio não compactado isolado (MNCI) é uma afecçãocongênita rara, resultante da interrupção da embriogênesenormal do miocárdio, a qual leva à persistência de trabeculaçõesnumerosas e profundas do endocárdio, comunicantescom a cavidade ventricular. Inicialmente descrita como umaentidade exclusiva da população pediátrica, vários casos deapresentação tardia ao longo da vida adulta foram descritosna literatura. Tem como manifestações clínicas principais:insuficiência cardíaca, eventos arrítmicos e episódios detromboembolismo sistêmico. Relata-se o caso de um adultojovem de 27 anos, cuja suspeita clínica foi estabelecida porecocardiograma bidimensional, sendo o diagnóstico definitivode não compactação isolada do miocárdio ventricular obtidopor ressonância magnética cardíaca.

Isolated noncompacted myocardium is a rare congenital disorderresulting from disruption of normal myocardial embryogenesis,leading to the persistence of numerous deep trabeculations of theendocardium, communicating with the ventricular cavity. Initiallydescribed as a congenital pathology of the pediatric population, severalcases of belated presentation during adulthood have been describedin literature. Its main clinical manifestations are heart failure,arrhythmic events and episodes of arterial thromboembolism. Wereport the case of a young adult man of 27-year-old, whose clinicalsuspicion was established by two-dimensional echocardiography,and the definitive diagnosis of isolated noncompaction of ventricularmyocardium obtained by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.