Is there any association between thrombosis and tissue factor pathway inhibitor levels in patients with vitamin D deficiency?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between vitamin D levels and hemostatic factors like tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI). METHODS: Patients who had 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) levels measured were included. Coagulation and hemostatic parameters were evaluated. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on 25(OH)D3 levels as group 1 (25(OH)D3 < 10 ng/mL, n = 25), group 2 (25(OH)D3 = 10-19.9 ng/mL, n = 22), and group 3 (25(OH)D3 ≥ 20 ng/mL, n = 28). RESULTS: A total of 75 patients with a mean age of 39 (range 18-57) years were included in the study. Prothrombin time was longer in group 3 than in group 2 (P = .043). The TFPI levels were higher in group 3 than in the other groups (P < .001). There was a strong positive correlation between 25(OH)D3 and TFPI levels (r = .47, P < .001). CONCLUSION: Further studies are needed for evaluation of the role of TFPI in hemostasis and thrombotic process in patients with vitamin D deficiency.

Elastography in the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules in Hashimoto thyroiditis.

Elastography is a method which assesses the risk of the malignancy and provides information about the degree of hardness in tissue. Hashimoto's thyroiditis, autoimmune lymphocytic infiltration and fibrosis, is considered to be a very common disease that is able to change the hardness of the tissue. The diagnostic value of elastography of this group of patients has not previously been reported. In our study, we aimed to determine the diagnostic value of elastography in 283 patients (255 female, 28 male) with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Elastography score and index were measured with real-time ultrasound elastography (Hitachi(®) EUB 7000 HV machine with using 13 MHz linear transducer). The outcome of this measure shows that malignant nodules were with higher elastography scores (ES) and strain indexes (SI) values. ES ≥3 were observed in 16/20 malignant and 130/263 benign nodules, respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) for the elasto score (AUC) was 0.72 (p = 0.001), and AUC for the strain index was 0.77 (p < 0.0001). Accordingly, our study suggests that strain index reflects malignancy better than the elasto score. We conclude that elastography score is ≥3 providing 80 % sensitivity and 50 %, six specificity for diagnosing malignancy. For strain index, we found that 2.45 (72.2 % sensitivity and 70 % specificity) is a cut-off point. We have detected a lower cut-off point for SI in Hashimoto patients although sensitivity and specificity decreases in Hashimoto in this population.

Vitamin D3 levels and insulin resistance in papillary thyroid cancer patients.

Both insulin resistance (IR) and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) are found to be associated with many cancer types. In this study, we evaluated the presence of IR and VDD in thyroid cancer patients based on controls. Total 344 papillary thyroid cancer and 116 controls were part of the study. Glucose, insulin, homeostasis model analysis-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (control group 2.12 ± 0.9 and patient group 3.6 ± 1.1; p < 0.0001), LDL were significantly high; HOMA-S and vitamin D3 levels (control group 19.11 ± 8 and patient group 17 ± 16; p = 0.004) were significantly low in the patient group. Vitamin D deficiency (64/108 in controls vs 166/235; p = 0.026) and insulin resistance (24/108; 115/235; p < 0.0001) were more frequent in papillary thyroid cancer patients. After regression analysis, tumor diameter showed significant association with log-HOMA-IR (B = 0.315; p = 0.017) and log-vitamin D3 (B = 0.207; p = 0.04). Vitamin D deficiency and insulin resistance frequencies show no difference between micro- and macropapillary thyroid cancers. Receiver operating characteristic curve shows the best cutoff point for tumor diameter showing that the presence of lymph node metastasis was 0.65 cm with 81.2 % sensitivity and 52 % specificity. Best cutoff point for the capsular invasion tumor diameter was 0.75 cm with 83.3 % sensitivity and 60.4 % specificity. No difference between follicular and classical type papillary thyroid carcinomas has been yet discovered. As a result, thyroid cancer patients are more insulin resistant and vitamin D3 deficient. Vitamin D3 levels and HOMA-IR index may affect tumor diameter. Tumor size that is lower than 1 cm (0.65-0.75 cm) may be related with capsular invasion and lymph node involvement.