Ravichandra Matcha1 , Venkataramana Sigilipelli2 , Yesuprasad3
BACKGROUND Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine cancer and has the highest mortality among endocrine neoplasms. The incidence of thyroid malignancies has increased three-fold over the past three decades. Even though thyroid cancer is more common in women than in men, death from thyroid cancer is more common in men. Thyroid cancers display a wide range of aggressiveness from the more indolent papillary cancer to the uniformly lethal anaplastic cancer. Progression is slow in differentiated carcinoma. Progression is rapid in anaplastic carcinoma. Even though majority of thyroid swellings are benign, some may harbour malignancy. So, accurate clinical examination, workup and evaluation are required. METHODS Patients admitted in surgery wards, Andhra Medical College, King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam, from July 2017 to September 2019 diagnosed with thyroid cancer on post-op histopathological examination were included in the study. The study was conducted among 50 patients. RESULTS Thyroid malignancy incidence is more in female patients i.e. 40 out of 50 patients (80%). Thyroid malignancy incidence is more in 31 - 40 years age group (28%) followed by 41 - 50 years age group (24%). Papillary carcinoma was the most common in this study (80%) followed by follicular carcinoma in 14% of patients. Swelling is the most common clinical feature which is present in all the cases (100%), followed by neck node swellings in 20 patients (40%). Distant metastasis was present in only one case (2%). Preoperative complications were tracheal deviation (20%), calcifications (14%), and retro sternal extension (1%). CONCLUSIONS Thyroid disorders are quite common in our geographical area. Carcinoma thyroid is 3 rd most common among the thyroid diseases. In the present study, papillary carcinoma is the most common type followed by follicular carcinoma. The mean age of presentation is 45 years. A large number of patients belonged to American Joint Committee on Cancer Classification of Thyroid Cancer, Eighth Edition (2017) stage I (<45 years). Duration of symptoms varied greatly, with 80% of the patients presenting with duration of less than 31 years. Thyroid carcinoma is more common in females, with a female to male ratio of 4:1.
