title: Thyrotropin values in patients with micropapillary thyroid cancer versus benign nodular disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studies published in the last few years suggest that increased thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) values are associated with increased risk of thyroid cancer and/or a more advanced stage of malignancy. The aim of this study was to explore the hypothesis that TSH may be a risk factor for thyroid cancer initiation, which was tested by comparing TSH concentrations in patients with incidental micro papillary cancer (mPTC) and controls with a negative histologic exam.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were retrospectively selected from medical records from 3 district hospitals. Patients with biochemical/histologic evidence of autoimmunity, thyroid function-interfering drugs, and autonomously functioning areas, were excluded. TSH values of 41 patients with an incidental mPTC were then compared with a sex- and age-matched group of patients who had a negative histologic exam at a 4:1 ratio (164 patients).
  
  
  RESULTS
  TSH was not significantly different in the mPTC group compared to the controls (1.1 ± 0.7 vs. 1.3 ± 1.0 mIU/L). After adjustment for age and gender, TSH levels were still not found to be significantly different between groups. In the mPTC group, TSH levels were not found to be a significant predictor of tumor size after adjusting for age and gender (β = 0.035, SE = 0.73, P = .844).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of these results, the hypothesis that TSH is involved in de novo oncogenesis of PTC is not supported.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, "V. Fazzi" Hospital, Lecce, Italy. dr.negro@libero.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Negro
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valcavi
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Riganti
authors.forename: Konstantinos A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Toulis
authors.forename: Ermenegildo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Colosimo
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bongiovanni
authors.forename: Pierangela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grassi
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giovanella
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gardini
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Piana
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000473:pathology; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000097:blood*; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D013972:Thyrotropin