Incidental thyroid carcinoma in thyrotoxic patients treated by surgery.
OBJECTIVE
Thyroid malignancy detected incidentally in patients who are operated for thyrotoxicosis has been reported at different rates. The aim of this study was to investigate the rate of incidental thyroid carcinoma in thyrotoxic patients managed with surgery in our institution.


METHODS
Of the 375 thyrotoxic patients who had thyroid surgery between the years of 1997-2004, 70.7% were females and 29.3% were males. Among thyrotoxic patients 65.3% (n=245) had toxic multinodular goiter (TMG), 16.8% (n=63) had toxic adenoma (TA) and 17.9% (n=67) had Graves' disease.


RESULTS
Twenty-six (6.9%) of all thyrotoxic patients had thyroid carcinoma. Eighteen (7.3%) of TMG, 4 (6.3%) of TA and 4 (6%) of Graves' disease patients had thyroid carcinoma. Histologic examination revealed 18 papillary (9 microscopic), 5 follicular, 2 hurthle cell and 1 anaplastic carcinoma.


CONCLUSIONS
In our study, incidental thyroid carcinoma was found in 6.9% of subjects with thyrotoxicosis. Papillary thyroid microcarcinomas constituted 34.6% (26/9) of these newly diagnosed thyroid carcinomas. The incidence of thyroid carcinoma was not higher in subjects with Graves' disease compared to TMG and TA. The rate of incidental thyroid carcinoma in subjects with thyrotoxicosis treated with surgery was similar to previous studies reported from different countries.
Cakir
Mehtap
M
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of General Surgery, School of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey. cakirmehtap@yahoo.com
Arici
Cumhur
C
Alakus
Huseyin
H
Altunbas
Hasan
H
Balci
Mustafa Kemal
MK
Karayalcin
Umit
U
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013971:Thyrotoxicosis / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*