Thyroid cancer in Greece. A tertiary center experience.

PURPOSE: to present the frequency and distribution of histological subtypes of primary thyroid carcinoma cases diagnosed at our Department.

METHODS

we retrospectively analyzed the records of all patients with primary thyroid carcinoma admitted to our Department from January 01, 2002 until December 31, 2008.

RESULTS

of 1,607 patients with primary thyroid carcinoma 1510 (94%) suffered from differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), 71 (4%) from medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), 10 (< 1%) from anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), 9 (<1%) from primary thyroid non Hodgkin's lymphoma, 1 (< 1%) from primary thyroid Hodgkin's lymphoma, 1 (< 1%) from squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid, and 6 patients (< 1%) suffered from carcinoma of ectopic thyroid tissue (1 malignant struma ovarii, 2 carcinoma in thyroglossal duct remnants, and 3 patients presented with thyroid tissue carcinoma in cervical lymph nodes).

CONCLUSION

differentiated thyroid carcinoma is by far the most common primary malignancy of the thyroid gland. Papillary thyroid carcinomas constitute the vast majority of these neoplasms. Larger studies are necessary to better understand and evaluate the clinical characteristics, behavior and prevalence of thyroid cancer in our country.