A study of 875 cases of thyroid cancer observed over a fifteen-year period (1975-1989) at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre.
Thyroid cancer (TC) is a common malignancy encountered at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC). Of 19,885 different malignant tumors seen during the period fro 1975 to 1989, there were 875 cases (4.4%) of TC. Of 1374 tumors of endocrine glands seen during the same period, 67% were thyroid neoplasms. TC represented 7.5% (618 cases) of all neoplasms in the females, second only to breast cancer. All types of TC were seen, with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PC) being the most common (79%). Anaplastic, medullary, follicular (FC), malignant lymphoma and Hürthle cell cancer accounted for 5.4%, 5.3%, 4.3%, 3.6% and 0.9% respectively. The frequency of PC was very similar (16%) in each of the third, fourth and fifth decades. The relative frequency (RF) of different types of TC was highest for PC with a ration of 18:1 between PC and FC, which could be the highest ever reported. There was a clearly progressive increase in the number of thyroid tumors referred between 1975 and 1989. Although this increase was evident for both sexes, it was more apparent for females. There was also a distinct increase (P<0.01) in the RF of PC from 76% (1975 to 1980) to 85% (1986 to 1989) with a decrease in FC from 9% to 2.5% over the same periods.
Ahmed
M
M
Deaprtments of Medicine, Biomedical Statistics, Radiology, Surgery, and Pathology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, and Department of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, and Dammam Central Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Al-Saihati
B
B
Greer
W
W
Al-Nuaim
A
A
Bakheet
S
S
Abdulkareem
A M
AM
Ingemansson
S
S
Akhtar
M
M
Ali
M A
MA