Frequency of thyroid cancer at King Fahad hospital, Madinah

ABSTRACT

To assess the frequency of common thyroid cancer at king Fahad Hospital, Madinah. Retrospective study. This study was carried out on all the patients treated for Cancer of Thyroid Gland, at King Fahad Hospital [KFH]-Madinah between Jan 2009 to February 2012. Ninety-one patients diagnosed with Cancer of Thyroid of various Age, Sex and Races were registered with King Fahad Hospital Madinah. 75% patients were Saudi nationals, 10% patients were from other Arab countries and the remaining 15% were non-Arabs. There were 72% females and 28% Males. The Ages ranged from 14 years to 94 years. 34% of these patients were less then 30 years of Age at the time of the diagnosis. Over 90% of the cases presented with Swelling Anterior Neck while in other 10% of the cases Dysphagia or Dyspnoea with Rt. or Lt. supraclavicular masss/swelling was the major complaint. 71% patients under went various surgical procedures for the Neck swelling. The Total Thyroidectomy was done in 48% patients. The Histology revealed 52% of pure Papillary Carcinoma and 23% were of Follicular origin. Majority of the diagnosed patients of Ca. Thyroid were referred to King Faisal Specialist Hospital Riyadh for Radioactive Iodine Ablation Therapy. The follow-up was poor as patients were from highly mobile population and belonged to Nine different countries. The study reveals that the presentation of Ca. Thyroid in our series is essentially similar to what has been reported from other parts of the world