Annals of Medical Research, cilt.27, sa.9, ss.2478-2483, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)
Abstract
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate clinical, radiological and laboratory (neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios,
and mean platelet value) features that may better define the rate of malignancy in order to contribute to the management of thyroid
nodules with AUS/FLUS.
Material and Methods: The data of patients with histologic findings of AUS/FLUS on FNA, who underwent surgery at General Surgery
Department in a tertiary care hospital between January 2012 and December 2019, were reviewed retrospectively. The patients with
any other malign and/or inflammatory diseases and continued on corticosteroid therapy and/or chemotherapy were excluded.
Results: The current study included 60 patients (73.3% women), who underwent surgery for 62 thyroid nodules classified as AUS/
FLUS. The specimen pathology revealed a thyroid malignancy in 16 patients, including 10 patients with papillary cancer, 5 patients
with micro-papillary thyroid cancer, 1 patient with minimally invasive follicular carcinoma. Ten patients had follicular adenoma. The
remaining 35 patients (37 nodules) had nodular colloidal hyperplasia and/or chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis. The rates of malignancy
(ROM) and neoplasia (RON) were 25.8% and 40.3%, respectively. Nearly half of the cases (41.9%) had chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis.
The malignancy rate in cases with chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis was 26.9%, which was similar in cases without (25%). In multivariate
analysis, only microcalcifications were found to be positively associated with malignancy (p: 0.1; [OR] 5.185; CI95% 1.4-19.18).
Conclusion: Chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis may lead to overestimation of AUS/FLUS results. It was not associated with malignancy
in thyroid nodules with AUS/FLUS. Inflammatory values, such as NLR, PLR and MPV, were not useful markers of malignancy. Among
all variables only US findings (microc