Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aim: The clinical significance of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) is debatable. The purpose of this study is to analyse the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with PTMC and document the risk factors for poor prognosis.

Materials and methods: Eighty-eight patients (18 males, 70 females) were included in the study. Clinical and laboratory parameters were recorded.

Results: The mean age of the patients were 47.6±11.4. The most common presenting symptom was swelling in the neck but half of them (45 patients) were incidentally diagnosed. 4 patients had a family history of thyroid cancer. 78 (88.6%) patients were operated for suspicion of malignancy after fine needle aspiration biopsy. One had Graves’ disease, one had hyperparathyroidism and rest of them were operated for large nodule size ≥ 3 cm. 48 patients had tumor size <5 mm, 40 had 6–10 mm tumors. Lymph node invasion was present in seven patients and three patients had capsule invasion. Only tumor size was an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis at diagnosis.

Conclusion: Increased tumor size increases the risk for poor prognosis. Tumor size should be considered in the follow-up for these patients.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.