Comparison of papillary thyroid carcinoma and papillary microcarcinoma for the clinical results and prognostic factors at the diagnosis and follow up

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is most frequent endocrine cancer but on the other hand papillary microcarcinoma (PMC) frequency is increasing in recent years. PMC has generally good prognosis however metastasis to regional lymph nodes and rarely distant metastasis can be seen in patients with PMC. PMC is responsible of mortality in a small number of patients and its clinical importance and therapy modalities are debated.In this study, we compared PTC and PMC for the clinical features and prognostic factors at the diagnosis and follow up. For the choice of appropraite treatment method, we researched differences between PTC and PMC retrospectively.Eighty one PTC (68%) and 38 PMC (32%) total 119 patients who were followed in Gaziantep University Endocrinology and Metabolism Department between 2005 and 2009, enrolled into the study. Age, sex, background, tumour variants, pathologic features, surgical procedure and postoperative surgical complications were collected from archive records and then analysed.Average follow up time is 35,8 ± 26,4 months in PTC and 35,4±28,1 months in PMC. Eighty-two percent of PTC patients and eighty-one percent of PMC patients were women. Mean diagnosis age in our patient was 42,7±14,0 years. Mean diagnosis age in our male patients was (47±12,8 years) significantly higher in women patients (40,6±14,0 years) (p<0,05).There were also no significant differences between PTC and PMC patients for prognostic factors like capsul invasion, vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, bilaterality, multicentricity, age, sex and tumour variants(p>0,05). Lymph node metastasis is more frequent in bilateral and multicentric tumours (p<0,05).As a result in this study we found no significant difference between PTC and PMC for poor prognostic factors like capsul invasion, vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, bilaterality and multicentricity. According to these findings, follow up and treatment of bilateral and multicentric PMC patients should be appropriate with PTC.Key words: Papillary thyroid carcinoma, Papillary microcarcinoma, Prognostic factors.