Risk of Thyroid Cancer in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults with Hashimoto Thyroiditis: a 27 Years Follow-up Study.
AI interpretation is pending for this paper.
Open original publication →What the AI sees
Not AI summarized yet.
Research significance
Pending deeper interpretation.
Source abstract
Objective Adult subjects diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) have an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer. Whether children and adolescents with HT bear the same risk is still a subject of debate. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of thyroid nodules and cancer in pediatric autoimmune thyroiditis. Design A retrospective analysis of data from 1050 adolescents and young adults (825 f, 225 m) who were regularly followed up in 9 Italian centers of pediatric endocrinology, was conducted. The median period of follow-up was 5.8 years (0.6-27.6 years). In all subjects, TSH, and free Thyroxine (fT4) were regularly evaluated on yearly basis. Thyroid ultrasound was performed on a yearly basis in patients with nodules and every other year in those without nodules. Results A total of 245 nodules were detected, which gives a prevalence rate of 23.3%. This prevalence is significantly higher than that observed in a matched control population (4.7%). The prevalence of thyroid cancer was 0.95% (10 malignant nodules, 8 papillary and 2 papillary follicular variant). This figure is statistically higher than that observed in the control population (0.37%). The severity of hypoechogenity at ultrasound, thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAbs) and fT4 serum concentration at diagnosis, were predictive for the development of new nodules. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between TPOAbs and the development of thyroid cancer. Conclusion It has been demonstrated that children, adolescents and young adults with HT have an increased risk of developing thyroid nodules and cancer.