Encapsulated papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland: clinicopathological and cytofluorometric study in comparison with non-encapsulated papillary carcinoma.
Clinicopathological and cytofluorometric studies were performed on nine encapsulated (EPC) and 23 non-encapsulated (non-EPC) carcinomas of the thyroid gland. The average age of the patients with EPC was 33 years, which was significantly younger than that of those with non-EPC. The average tumor size of EPC was twice as large as that of intraglandular non-encapsulated carcinoma. All patients with EPC were alive without disease, but three out of 23 patients with non-EPC had a recurrence of the disease or died. Cytofluorometric studies showed that the mean nuclear DNA content and percentage of tumor cells in the S-G2M phase of EPC were lower than that of non-EPC. According to the DNA histogram pattern, all EPC showed distinct modal DNA values in the diploid or near diploid region of normal cells. However non-EPC, especially extra-glandular non-encapsulated papillary carcinoma, showed a wide variety of DNA histogram patterns. The present study suggested that EPC is a distinct subtype of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland clinicopathologically and that cytofluorometrically it is different from non-EPC.
Oyama
T
T
Second Department of Pathology, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
Ishida
T
T
Ishii
K
K
Sakurai
S
S
Joshita
T
T
Sakamoto
A
A
Nakajima
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005470:Fluorometry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm