Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma may have repeated recurrence. This study evaluated the prognostic value of postoperative thyroglobulin levels.

Method: From 1998 to 2009, patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma were recruited by medical chart review. The pathology report, postoperative thyroglobulin levels, radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation and scan, and re-operation were abstracted.

Results: A total of 453 patients (125 male and 328 female, mean age 47.4±15.9 years) with papillary thyroid carcinoma were recruited. The postoperative staging I, II, III, IV was 57.6, 6.4, 14.8, 21.2%, respectively. The mean postoperative thyroglobulin level was 51.7±251.8 ng/ml. The thyroglobulin level was stratified to I (<2), II (between 2 and 10), III (between 10 and 30), IV (between 30 and 100), V (more than 100). The association between stage and thyroglobulin level was not significant (χ², P=0.0621). Postoperative thyroglobulin level was not significantly associated with the results of RAI ablation scan. During the follow-up period (mean 3.4±2.6 years), 102 patients (22.5%) received repeated operation or RAI treatment for recurrent tumor or lymphnode metastasis. The recurrence rate in thyroglubin level I, II, III, IV, V was 12.7, 20, 18, 27.5, 41.7%, respectively. The predictive effect of postoperative thyroglobulin levels for tumor recurrence was not statistically significant (logistic regression, P=0.5985).

Conclusions: For patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma, post-operative thyroglobulin level was not associated with recurrence rate. Careful long-term follow-up was necessary even for patients with low thyroglobulin level.