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Papillary thyroid carcinoma linked to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
Data from a recent meta-analysis demonstrate that papillary thyroid cancer is significantly associated with pathologically confirmed Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, despite decades of controversy.
Researchers from Korea University Ansan Hospital used citation databases to search the literature for relevant studies; they found 38 eligible studies that included 10,648 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Of those, 23.2% had histologically proven Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
According to the analysis, Compared with benign thyroid diseases and other carcinomas, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was more commonly seen in PTC (OR=2.4 vs. 2.8; P<.001).
Additionally, cases of PTC with existing Hashimoto’s thyroiditis were significantly linked to female patients (OR=2.7; P<.001); multifocal involvement (OR=1.5; P=.010); no extrathyroidal extension (OR=1.3; P=.002); and no lymph node metastasis (OR=1.3; P=.041), the researchers wrote. The long recurrence-free survival among patients with both PTC and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis also was significant (HR=0.6; P=.001).
“Our meta-analysis showed that PTC is significantly associated with pathologically confirmed [Hashimoto’s thyroiditis]. PTC patients with [Hashimoto’s thyroiditis] have favorable clinicopathologic characteristics compared with PTCs without [Hashimoto’s thyroiditis]. However, patients with [Hashimoto’s thyroiditis] need to be carefully monitored for the development of PTC,” they wrote.