Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 41 GP209 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.41.GP209

ECE2016 Guided Posters Thyroid - Translational & Clinical (1) (10 abstracts)

Higher thyrotropin can be used as an additional risk factor in prediction of malignancy in euthyroid thyroid nodules evaluated by cytology based on Bethesda system

Husniye Baser 1 , Oya Topaloglu 2 , Abbas Ali Tam 2 , Berna Evranos 1 , Afra Alkan 3 , Nuran Sungu 4 , Ersin Gurkan Dumlu 5 , Reyhan Ersoy 2 & Bekir Cakir 2


1Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Ankara, Turkey; 2Yildirim Beyazit University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Ankara, Turkey; 3Yildirim Beyazit University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Ankara, Turkey; 4Yildirim Beyazit University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Ankara, Turkey; 5Yildirim Beyazit University Faculty of Medicine, Department of General Surgery, Ankara, Turkey.


Introduction: Recently, it has been suggested that thyrotropin (TSH) concentration can be used as a marker for prediction of thyroid malignancy. However, the association between the cytology results and TSH levels is not clear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between TSH levels and Bethesda categories and determine the role of TSH levels in prediction of malignancy in patients with different Bethesda categories.

Methods: The data of 1433 euthyroid patients with 3206 thyroid nodules who underwent thyroidectomy were screened retrospectively. The preoperative cytology results, thyroid function tests, thyroid autoantibodies and presence of histopathological Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) were recorded.

Results: Of the 1433 patients, 585 (40.8%) had malignant and 848 (59.2%) had benign histopathology. Malignant group had smaller nodule size, elevated TSH levels, a higher rate of presence of HT compared to benign group (P<0.001, all). Cytology results of 3206 nodules were as follows; 832 nondiagnostic (ND), 1666 benign, 392 atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS), 68 follicular neoplasm/suspicious for follicular neoplasm (FN/SFN), 133 suspicious for malignancy (SM), and 115 malignant. Both SM and malignant cytology groups had significantly higher TSH levels than other 4 Bethesda categories (P<0.05, all). Benign cytology group had significantly lower TSH levels compared to other cytology groups (P<0.05, all). TSH was significantly lower in ND cytology group compared to AUS/FLUS, SM, and malignant cytology groups (P<0.001, all). Patients with malignant final histopathology in ND and AUS/FLUS cytology groups had significantly higher TSH levels compared to patients with benign final histopathology (P<0.05, all). As Bethesda category proceeded towards cytologies with higher estimated risk of malignancy, TSH levels tended to increase gradually.

Conclusion: In addition to cytology, TSH levels can be used as a supplementary marker in prediction of malignancy in certain Bethesda categories.

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