[Thyroid carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the results of surgical treatment in patients with thyroid carcinoma.


METHODS
Eighty-five patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer between October 1970 and November 2004 were studied. Clinical presentation, diagnostic procedures, surgical treatment, histological diagnoses, complications and follow-up were analyzed. The information was processed using the BMDP statistical package. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics: chi-square test and t-test to evaluate differences. Survival was analyzed using the Mantel-Cox test, with a value of P=0.05.


RESULTS
Differentiated carcinoma was more frequent (usual variant in 84.5%; follicular carcinoma in 9.3% and tall cell carcinoma in 6.2%). Age: 48+/-5.48 years. Papillary carcinoma was diagnosed in younger patients than follicular carcinoma (p=0.03) and predominated in women aged less than 49 years. Symptoms were due to the presence of nodules in the neck, whether palpable or not. Seventy-four percent of nodules were non-echoic. Ultrasonography revealed the presence of a solitary nodule in 96%. Total thyroidectomy was performed in 82%, and hemi- or subtotal thyroidectomy was performed in 12%. Six percent of the patients received palliative treatment. Recurrence occurred in 6%.


CONCLUSIONS
Mortality in thyroid carcinoma is related to histological type, age, sex, tumoral size, the presence of regional metastases and palliative treatment.
Lucena
Jorge Ramón
JR
Escuela Luis Razetti Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. Jorge_lucena@yahoo.com
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*