Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2008) 16 P757

ECE2008 Poster Presentations Thyroid (146 abstracts)

Thyroglobulin measurement in fine-needle aspirates of cervical lymph nodes in diagnosis of metastic differentiated thyroid cancer

Rocio Alfayate 1 , Alicia López 2 , Sandra Martinez-Fuster 2 , Montserrat Mauri 1 , Oscar Moreno-Pérez 2 , Santiago Gil 3 , Pedro De la Iglesia 3 , Antonio Cabezas 4 & Antonio Miguel Picó 2


1Department of Hormone Laboratory, Alicante General University Hospital, Alicante, Spain; 2Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Alicante General University Hospital, Alicante, Spain; 3Department of Radiology, Alicante General University Hospital, Alicante, Spain; 4Deparment of Pathology, Alicante General University Hospital, Alicante, Spain.


Introduction: Serum thyroglobulin (Tg) measurement is the marker of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) after total thyroidectomy, but its value is limited by the interference of anti-Tg antibodies (TgAb). Detection of Tg in fine-needle aspiration biopsy (TG-FNAB) washout fluid is used recently to identify neck DTC metastases, but the interference of TGAb-FNAB in the procedure is unknown.

Objectives: To evaluate the utility of TG-FNAB for detecting cervical lymph node metastases from DTC. To evaluate the presence of anti-Tg antibodies in this fluid.

Patients and methods: An ultrasound-FNAB was done in all patients with suspected recurrence or metastasis of CDT treated at the Alicante General University Hospital since June 2006 since November 2007. Tg and TgAb serum and liquid-FNAB was assayed by chemiluminescent assays (IMMULITE 2000, Siemens©). The aspirated material was cytologicaly examined and were reported by an experienced cytologist.

Results: Table.

Conclusions: Tg-FANB could be a marker in the early diagnosis of DTC recurrent or metastatic. The clinical performance of Tg-FANB fluid appears to be not affected by TgAb-FANB, on the observed data.

FANB washout fluidSerum
Tg (ng/ml)TgAb (UI/ml)Tg (ng/ml)TgAb (UI/ml)Cytology
Group 1 n=43392<5<0.2<5Metastatic DTC
21 460<51.1<5Metastatic DTC
1271<50.3<5Metastatic DTC
470<50.8<5Metastatic DTC
Group 2 n=4<0.2<5<0.26.2No malignancy
<0.2<5<0.2<5No malignancy
<0.2<5<0.26.8No malignancy
<0.2<5<0.29.2No malignancy
Group 3 n=2<0.2<50.313.1Inadequate
<0.2<5<0.25.3Inadequate
Group 4 n=20.7<518.19.3No malignancy
64<51620.3No malignancy

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