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Great veins invasion in follicular thyroid cancer: single-centre study assessing prevalence and clinical outcome

  • Endocrine Surgery
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Great veins invasion is considered as a rare and prognostically unfavourable event in thyroid cancer. However, current knowledge about this issue is mainly based on single case reports. Follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) represents the histotype with the most pronounced angioinvasive feature. This study is aimed at assessing the actual prevalence of great veins invasion in FTC and providing information about prognosis and the proper clinical management of these patients.

Methods

Clinico-pathological and radiological data of patients with thyroid cancer undergoing thyroidectomy in our institution were retrospectively retrieved. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (a) histological diagnosis of FTC; (b) instrumental and histological evidence of great veins invasion and (c) documented follow-up entirely performed at our institution. Pre-surgical assessment of great veins status was performed in all patients by means of Doppler ultrasonography.

Results

Out of 637 patients operated from 2003 to 2013, four subjects, all affected with FTC, showed great veins involvement (0.62% of the overall cohort and 7.85% of the FTC group). One of them was lost at follow-up. All three patients with available follow-up were subjected to aggressive surgery obtaining a complete eradication of neck disease. All of them achieved the 5-year survival target (60, 63 and 96 months of survival for patients 1, 2 and 3, respectively).

Conclusions

Great veins invasion may not be uncommon in FTC and preoperative detection and characterisation of such condition may optimise surgical approach and improve survival.

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Funding

The study had no funding and was performed with institutional support of the Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la Cura dei Tumori, Fondazione G. Pascale, IRCCS, Naples; Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Struttura Complessa Chirurgia Oncologica della Tiroide, Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori-IRCCS “Fondazione G. Pascale”, Naples, Italy

    Maria Grazia Chiofalo, Raffaella D’Anna & Vincenzo Marotta

  2. Struttura Complessa Medicina Nucleare e Terapia metabolica, Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori-IRCCS “Fondazione G. Pascale”, Naples, Italy

    Francesca Di Gennaro

  3. Struttura Complessa Radiodiagnostica, Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori-IRCCS “Fondazione G. Pascale”, Naples, Italy

    Sergio Venanzio Setola

Authors
  1. Maria Grazia Chiofalo
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  2. Raffaella D’Anna
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  3. Francesca Di Gennaro
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  4. Sergio Venanzio Setola
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  5. Vincenzo Marotta
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vincenzo Marotta.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Chiofalo, M.G., D’Anna, R., Di Gennaro, F. et al. Great veins invasion in follicular thyroid cancer: single-centre study assessing prevalence and clinical outcome. Endocrine 62, 71–75 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-018-1622-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-018-1622-4

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