Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: It has been reported that thyrotrophin receptor antibody (TRAb) is associated with frequency and aggressiveness of thyroid cancer in patients with Graves disease (GD). However, there is not any data regarding the effects of TRAb on cytology and histopathology results of patients with nodular GD. Thus, the aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of TRAb on cytology and histopathology results in patients with nodular or multinodular thyroid disease on the basis of GD.

Materials and methods: Clinical data of patients with GD who had thyroidectomy and preoperative TRAb levels were reviewed retrospectively. The cytology and histopathology results of 548 nodules from 598 patients with GD were evaluated for the present study.

Results: Of 598 patients, 189 (31.6%) were men and 409 (68.4%) were women. However 352 patients did not have nodular disease on preoperative thyroid ultrasound, 74 had only one nodule and 172 had ≥2 nodules. 517 (86.5%) patients had benign and 81 (13.5%) had malignant final histopathology. In malignant group, 77 (95.1%) patients had papillary throid carcinoma, 2 (2.5%) had follicular thyroid carcinoma, 1 (1.2%) had thyroid tumor of uncertain malignant potential, and 1 (1.2%) had hurthle cell thyroid carcinoma. However, TRAb was detected as positive in 359 (60%) patients, it was found as negative in 239 (40%) patients. There were 185 nodules in TRAb positive group and 363 nodules in TRAb negative group, and there was no significant difference in cytology results between groups (P=0.181). Malignancy was detected in 48 (13.4%) and 33 (13.8%) patients with TRAb positive and negative patients, respectively (P=0.878), and there was not any difference in histopathology results between groups (P=0.161). Furthermore, there was no difference in features of carcinoma such as capsular, vascular, and lymphatic invasions between TRAb positive and negative groups (P>0.05).

Conclusion: In the present study, it was found that malignancy rate was similar in TRAb positive and negative patients. Contrary to literature, TRAb positivity was not associated with increased malignancy rate and also had no effect on cytology and histopathology results in patients with GD.