Malignancy Rates in Thyroid Nodules Classified as Bethesda Categories III and IV: Retrospective Data from a Tertiary Center.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA) has a well-established role in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules, and the "Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology" is used to interpret FNA results. Bethesda categories III and IV encompass varying risks of malignancy. In addition, there is some debate in the literature about how to select among many acceptable treatment approaches. OBJECTIVES: To establish an association between these 2 cytological categories and malignancy rates in patients treated in a referral tertiary cancer center, where surgical treatment is recommended for all these patients. METHODS: A total of 615 thyroid nodules (582 patients) were included in this retrospective study. There were 478 nodules that were classified as Bethesda category III and 137 nodules as Bethesda category IV. Electronic records were reviewed to establish a correlation between the FNA cytological results and the final histopathological analyses. Incidentally detected carcinomas were considered separately. RESULTS: Among the bethesda category III group, 75 malignant nodules (15.7%) were coincident with the target nodule (74 patients, 16.2%). Incidental carcinomas were found in 13.8% of these patients. The remaining 403 (84.3%) target nodules were benign. Among the bethesda category IV nodules, 23 malignant nodules (16.8%) were coincident with the target nodule. Incidental carcinomas were found in 25 patients (19.7%). The other 114 target nodules were benign. A total of 46 patients (52.3%) had carcinomas in the thyroid lobe contralateral to the one containing the target nodule, and 40 patients (45.5%) had carcinomas exclusively in the contralateral lobe. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a 16% rate of malignancy in nodules classified as bethesda category III and 17% among bethesda category IV. When incidental carcinomas were included, the rates of malignancy doubled.

DEATH RELATED TO PULMONARY METASTASIS IN PATIENTS WITH DIFFERENTIATED THYROID CANCER.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the predictive factors for shorter disease-specific survival in patients with pulmonary disease secondary to differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted over a 5-year period that included 54 patients with pulmonary disease secondary to DTC during the follow-up. Among these patients, 13 (24.1%) died from the disease. Dedifferentiation characteristics were identified at pathological examination of the metastatic disease (lymph node or distant metastases) and was defined as the abrupt transformation of a well-differentiated tumor into high-grade morphology lacking the original distinct histologic characteristics. RESULTS: Tumor dedifferentiation marked by cellular aberrations and radioiodine (RAI) therapy resistance occurred in 5 (9.3%) patients. Four of them died due to pulmonary progression (80.0%), and the median survival of this group was 30 months compared to 279 months in the patients without dedifferentiation. The cumulative disease-specific survival was 20.0% in the patients with dedifferentiation during the follow-up versus 46.1% among the cases without this condition (P = .003, log-rank test). Moreover, dedifferentiation was independently associated with shorter disease-specific survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 31.607; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.815-207.478; P<.0001, Cox regression model) as were age over 45 years (HR = 10.904; 95% CI: 1.145-103.853; P = .038) and male sex (HR = 4.210; 95% CI: 1.056-16.783; P = .042). CONCLUSION: DTC patients with pulmonary disease exhibited shorter disease-specific survival, particularly those who developed tumor dedifferentiation, and these patients require special attention during follow-up. ABBREVIATIONS: CI = confidence interval DTC = differentiated thyroid cancer FTC = follicular thyroid carcinoma HR = hazard ratio IQR = interquartile range LN = lymph node LR = likelihood ratio PTC = papillary thyroid carcinoma RAI = radioiodine pTNM = pathologic tumor-node-metastasis stage system.

Tratamento cirúrgico do carcinoma epidermoide da cavidade oral e orofaringe no Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo (ICESP): perfil dos pacientes tratados e resultados oncológicos iniciais / Surgical treatment of oral cavity and oropharynx squamous cell carcinoma at São Paulo State Cancer Institute (ICESP): profile of treated patients and initial oncological results

Introdução: As neoplasias malignas da cavidade oral e daorofaringe constituem uma parcela significativa dos tumoresda cabeça e pescoço. Em uma instituição oncológica terciáriaé mister avaliar o perfil dos pacientes tratados a fim de traçarestratégias terapêuticas e definir linhas de pesquisa científica.Objetivo: Determinar o perfil dos pacientes submetidos atratamento cirúrgico por carcinoma epidermoide de cavidadeoral e orofaringe no Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo(ICESP), e os resultados oncológicos iniciais deste tratamento.Casuística e Método: Prontuários eletrônicos dos pacientesoperados no Serviço de Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoço do ICESPcom diagnóstico de câncer de cavidade oral (incluindo lábio)e orofaringe no período de abril de 2009 a dezembro de 2010(primeiros 20 meses de atividade do serviço). Foram analisadosretrospectivamente nesses prontuários dados demográficos,histopatológicos e tratamentos adjuvantes e prévios dessespacientes. Determinaram-se também as curvas de sobrevidaglobal, específica e livre de progressão de doença em um períodoinicial de seguimento. Resultados: Foram obtidos 66 casospassíveis de análise. Os sítios mais frequentes do tumor primárioforam língua oral, soalho da boca e loja tonsilar, os quais somadoscorresponderam a 57,5% dos casos. A maioria dos pacientes(83,3%) era virgem de tratamento, sendo o restante, cirurgias deresgate. A maioria dos pacientes foi classificada como estadio IIIe IV (77,8%). Observou-se invasão perineural e angiolinfática em62,3% e 29,5% dos casos, respectivamente. A espessura dostumores primários variou de 0,04cm até 6,8cm, com espessuramédia de 2,18 ± 1,54 cm. Dos 56 casos submetidos a algum tipode esvaziamento cervical, 38 casos foram pN+ (67,9%) com 1 até50 linfonodos comprometidos. Em 37 casos foi possível avaliarextensão extracapsular nos linfonodos metastáticos, a qual ocorreu em 17 pacientes (45,9%). Após a cirurgia, 59,1% dos pacientesforam submetidos à radioterapia e 37,9% à quimioterapia. Emum tempo de seguimento médio de 15 ± 7 meses, não houveperda de seguimento e as sobrevidas global, específica e livrede progressão de doença acumuladas em 30 meses foram,respectivamente, 54,2%, 59,1% e 52%. Aproximadamente93% das recidivas ocorreram nos primeiros 12 meses póstratamentocirúrgico. Conclusão: O perfil dos pacientes tratadoscirurgicamente por câncer de boca e orofaringe nos primeiros 20meses de atividade do Serviço de Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoçodo ICESP revela um número expressivo de casos avançados(estadios III e IV) com características anatomopatológicas de mauprognóstico, o que implica nos resultados oncológicos pobresobservados em um período inicial de seguimento.