Abstract:

Aim: The aim of this descriptive study is to determine the frequency of thyroid cancer (TC) and evaluate the changing rates of histopathological types, age and sex distribution of thyroid tumours in our region. Material and Methods: A total of 4917 patients who underwent thyroidectomy for different indications between May 2010 and May 2019 were included in this retrospective study. Patients’ age, sex, selected surgical method and postoperative final pathology results were recorded. All data were evaluated using statistical analyses. Results: Of the 4917 patients, 922 were male (18.8%) and 3995 were female (81.2%). The mean age was 48.3 ± 12.3 (17-84) years. Among all cases 27.1% (1335) of them were malignant and 2.6 % (125) of them were well-differentiated tumours of uncertain malignant potential. The 1335 cases diagnosed with a malignant thyroid tumour had a mean age of 44.7±11.6 years and a female-to-male ratio of 4,3. Of these, 94.9% of them had papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), 1.72% had follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC), 2.32% had medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), and 0.45% had anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Of the cases with PTC, 62.66% of them had microcarcinoma. Conclusion: Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) frequency increases especially in the younger and female population in our region, FTC frequency decreases significantly and MTC is the second most common type of TCs after papillary cancers. In all TCs, the 59.47% PTMC share (mostly detected incidentally, 83.7%) appears to be the result of pathologists examining more tissue blocks and histological sampling over time.

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