The Performance Analysis of the Thyroid Nodule Size to Predict the Coexistence of Micropapillary Carcinoma

Abstract

Objective:Incidental micropapillary carcinoma (IMC) is the most common variant of thyroid malignancies. There are unmet needs regarding the efficacy of nodule size in the prediction of the coexistence of IMC. We aimed to measure the effect of nodule size on the prediction of the coexistence of IMC.Method:The data of 194 patients who underwent biopsy for fine-needle aspiration cytology and subsequent thyroidectomy in a research and training hospital between January 2017 and February 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into three groups according to the sizes of thyroid nodules as 0-10 mm, 11-20 mm, and >20 mm. Logistic regression analysis was performed.Results:The patients with nodule size between 0 mm and 10 mm mostly showed hypothyroidism (51.0% vs. 28.8% vs. 41.8%) while patients with size between 11 mm and 20 mm mostly had euthyroidism (44.2% vs. 45.1% vs. 41.8%, p=0.0175). Both malignancy (51.9% vs. 49.0% vs. 42.9%, p=0.544) and IMC (65.4% vs. 51.0% vs. 56.0%, p=0.32) were observed more likely in patients with moderate size (11-20 mm). We found the following variables to be predictors for the coexistence of IMC: absence of halo [odds ratio (OR): 4.50, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.61-14.71, p=0.007], and interestingly decrease in vascularity [OR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.12-0.87, p=0.030], and total thyroidectomy, [OR: 4.55, 95% CI: 2.30- 9.56, p2 cm), we reported more IMC inside the thyroid gland. However, the nodule size has the low performance to be a predictor for the coexistence of IMC in the thyroid gland.

Keywords

• malignancy
• nodule size
• thyroidectomy