J Korean Thyroid Assoc.  2013 May;6(1):69-74. 10.11106/jkta.2013.6.1.69.

Clinicopathologic Characteristics of Papillary Microcarcinoma in the Elderly

• Kim WJ
• Bae MJ
• Yi YS
• Jeon YK
• Kim SS
• Kim BH
• Kim IJ

• KMID: 1428456
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11106/jkta.2013.6.1.69

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Older patients show more aggressive features in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). However, data about clinicopathologic features of older patients in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) are limited. Presently, we investigated the difference of clinicopathologic features in PTMC according to age.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 820 PTMC patients (82 males, 10%; 738 females, 90%) who underwent total thyroidectomy at Pusan National University Hospital were enrolled. The patients were divided into three age groups: group 1 (44 years or younger, n=230), group 2 (45-64 years, n=513), and group 3 (65 years or older, n=77).
RESULTS
Extrathyroidal extension was 33% in group 1, 32.2% in group 2, and 31.2% in group 3 (p=0.948). There was no significant difference of lymph node metastasis between the groups: N0 (59.1% vs. 67.8% vs. 70.1%), N1a (37.4% vs. 28.8% vs. 26%), and N1b (3.5% vs. 3.3% vs. 3.9%) (p=0.159). Of the 820 patients, 526 (64.1%) were diagnosed as early stage (stage I, II) PTMC and 294 (35.9%) were diagnosed as advanced stage (stage III, IV) PTMC. The proportion of patients with each stage was significantly different between the groups (p<0.001). However, there was no significantly difference in the stage over 45 years old. Of the 820 patients, 517 were evaluated BRAF(V600E) mutation. There was no difference in prevalence between each group.
CONCLUSION
There was no statistically significant difference of clinicopathologic features between the groups, indicating that old age itself was not associated with unfavorable clinicopathologic features in PTMC.

Keyword

Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma; Age; Clinicopathologic features

MeSH Terms

Aged
Carcinoma
Carcinoma, Papillary
Female
Humans
Lymph Nodes
Male
Neoplasm Metastasis
Prevalence
Thyroid Gland
Thyroid Neoplasms
Thyroidectomy
Carcinoma
Carcinoma, Papillary
Thyroid Neoplasms

Reference

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