title: Is there any association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and thyroid cancer? A retrospective data analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients were evaluated by ultrasonography-guided fine needle aspiration cytology. Typical cytopathological aspects and/or classical histopathological findings were taken into consideration in the diagnosis of HT, and only histopathological results were considered in the diagnosis of PTC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 1,049 patients with multi- or uninodular goiter (903 women and 146 men), 173 (16.5%) had cytopathological features of thyroiditis. Thirty-three (67.4%) out of the 49 operated patients had PTC, 9 (27.3%) of them with histopathological features of HT. Five (31.3%) out of the 16 patients with non-malignant disease also had HT. In the groups with HT, PTC, and PCT+HT, the female prevalence rate was 100%, 91.6%, and 77.8%, respectively. Mean age was 41.5, 43.3, and 48.5 years, respectively. No association was observed between the two diseases in the present study where HT occurred in 31.1% of the benign cases and in 27.3% of malignant cases (p = 0.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In spite of the absence of association between HT and PCT, the possibility of malignancy in HT should always be considered because of the coexistence of the two diseases already reported in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor III, Department of Pathology and Legal Medicine at Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Endocrinologist at Hospital São Rafael, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daysi Maria
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: de Alcântara-Jones
authors.affiliation: Graduate Student of Medicine, Universidade Salvador (Unifacs), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tania Freitas
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: de Alcântara-Nunes
authors.affiliation: Graduate Students of Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruno de Oliveira
authors.initials: Bde O
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.affiliation: Graduate Students of Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafael Daltro
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Graduate Students of Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Allan Chastinet Pitangueira
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Santana
authors.affiliation: Graduate Students of Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernanda Tavares
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: de Alcântara
authors.affiliation: Graduate Student, Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública (EBMSP), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais Magalhães
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: de Faria
authors.affiliation: Physician Assistant, Pathologist, Hospital São Rafael, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Igor Campos
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor IV, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leila Maria Batista
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Araújo
keywords: Cytopathology; Thyroid neoplasms; Thyroid nodule; Thyroiditis; Ultrasonography