Is Hashimoto's Thyroiditis Associated with the Prognostic Factors of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma? / 대한내분비외과학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: In recent studies, the presence of lymphocytic infiltration in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) was reported to be associated with a favorable prognosis. The prognostic significance of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) in patients with PTC remains unclear. The aim of our study was to determine the frequency and prognostic significance of HT in patients with PTC. METHODS: From January 2005 to December 2007, 367 patients who underwent thyroid surgery for PTC were included in this study. They were divided into two groups Group A (n=71; 19.4%) included the patients diagnosed as having PTC with HT and Group B (n=296; 80.6%) included the patients who had PTC without HT. The clinicopathologic features between Groups A and B were retrospectively reviewed via the medical records. RESULTS: Lymph node metastasis was less frequent in Group A than that in Group B (25.5% versus 41.0%, respectively, P=0.033). However, both groups had similar clinicopathologic features in terms of age, gender, the tumor size, multifocality, extrathyroidal invasion, the TNM stage and the AMES and MACIS scores. Also, the operative method did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the presence of HT is not associated with the prognostic factors of PTC.