Abstract:Objective
To study the clinical characteristics of thyroid carcinoma in young females, in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.
Methods The clinical data of 74 consecutive young female patients with thyroid carcinoma treated in our hospital in the recent ten years were analysed. In most of the cases,there was no firm texture or fixation of the thyroid nodules to surrounding structures on physical examination before operation. Ultrasonography was performed in all patients and multiple thyroid nodules were found in 61 cases(82.43%). Thyroid scintiscans were performed in 43 cases, and thyroid nodules were found in 41 cases. The cold, cool and warm nodules were found in 14,18 and 9 cases, respectively, by scintiscans.Fine needle aspiration biopsy(FNAB) was performed in 11 cases, and in 2 cases were negative,1 case showed abnormal cell,3 cases were suspicious of carcinoma,and 5 cases were confirmed papillary carcinoma. Results Papillary carcinoma was found in 70 cases, follicular carcinoma in 3 cases and medullary carcinoma in 1 case by histological examination,and benign disease was also accompanied in most cases. Lymph node metastases was found in 28 cases(37.84%),and the rate of metastases was significantly different than that of older female patients(16.46%) at the same time.There were 2 cases who died 3 years after operation because of metastases.
Conclusions The lymph node metastases were prevalent in young female patients with thyroid carcinoma. The texture and mobility of the nodules cannot be used to differentiate benign from malignant nodules.We should carefully analyze every nodule found on ultrasonography. For the solid nodules with diameter larger than 1.0cm, we suggest operation; for the nonsolid nodules with diameter larger than 2.0cm, we prefer scintiscans and FNAB for diagnosis.