Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of thyroid cancer in patients with suspected thyroid nodule referred from primary care.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study which included patients with suspected thyroid nodule referred from primary care to a high-resolution thyroid nodule clinic. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected, all patients underwent thyroid ultrasound and subsequently, a fine-needle aspiration (FNA) was performed if thyroid nodules were >1 cm of diameter of if there was evidence of risk factors for thyroid carcinoma (in accordance with American Thyroid Association guidelines).

Results: 987 patients were included in this study. After performing thyroid ultrasound the presence of a thyroid nodule was detected in 79.5% of patients (785 nodules) with a mean nodule diameter of 2±1.15 cm. FNA was performed in 585 nodules (74.5% of all nodules). 11.8% of all cytological samples had suspected malignancy and 2.1% were malignant. Referral for surgery was required in 23.2% of patients (mainly because of nodule size or suspected malignancy). Malignancy was confirmed in 5.6% of thyroid nodules.

Conclusions: The prevalence of thyroid cancer in this cohort of patients from primary care is 5.6%. Thus, approximately one out of 20 thyroid nodules referred from primary care to a high-resolution thyroid clinic is proven to be malignant.