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Reactive C cell hyperplasia as an incidental finding after thyroidectomy for papillary carcinoma

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Abstract

The biologic and clinical significance of reactive C cell hyperplasia (CCH), adjacent to differentiated thyroid cancers, remains unknown. Our aim was to investigate the presence of CCH in thyroidectomy specimens with papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) and discuss its epidemiology and histology. In total, 413 patients were prospectively included in the study (189 benign goiters, 224 PTC). Reactive CCH was observed in 9.8% of PTC cases (32% males, 68% females, mean age 48.3 ± 16.4 years) and usually ipsilateral to the primary tumor (91%). Histologically, CCH was either focal (91%) or diffuse (9%) and almost always (92%) found in the middle or upper thirds of the thyroid lobes. Patients with PTC/CCH were generally younger than patients with benign goiters (0.027). On the other hand, patients with PTC and with PTC/CCH did not differ in terms of age, gender, basal calcitonin levels, primary tumor size, multifocality, extrathyroidal invasion, or lymph node metastasis. Thyroiditis, however, was more frequent in cases with PTC/CCH compared to PTC alone. Reactive CCH is considered a physiological response of the C cells to various stimuli, differentiated thyroid cancer among others. It bears no malignant potential and requires no additional treatment, following thyroidectomy.

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Contributions

DKM and AB conceived and designed the study. VNS and CD researched and analyzed the data. DKM, AB, VNS, CD, and STB wrote, edited, and reviewed the manuscript. All authors gave the final approval for publication. DKM takes full responsibility, including the study design, access to data, and the decision to submit and publish the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Athens Naval and Veterans Hospital, 70 Deinokratous Str, Athens, Greece

    Dimitrios K. Manatakis & Vasiliki N. Soulou

  2. Department of ENT Surgery, Athens Naval and Veterans Hospital, Athens, Greece

    Apostolos Bakavos & Christodoulos Dimakis

  3. First Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Sofia Tseleni-Balafouta

Authors
  1. Dimitrios K. Manatakis
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  2. Apostolos Bakavos
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  3. Vasiliki N. Soulou
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  4. Christodoulos Dimakis
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  5. Sofia Tseleni-Balafouta
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Correspondence to Dimitrios K. Manatakis.

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The study was approved by the institutional research ethics committee. Informed consent was obtained from the participating patients.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Manatakis, D.K., Bakavos, A., Soulou, V.N. et al. Reactive C cell hyperplasia as an incidental finding after thyroidectomy for papillary carcinoma. Hormones 18, 289–295 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-019-00119-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-019-00119-3

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