Risk of lymph node metastases in multifocal papillary thyroid cancer associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis

AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors of lymph nodes metastases (LNM) in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and coexisting Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients with PTC and HT who had undergone total thyroidectomy (TT) with central neck dissection (CND) over an 11-year period (between 2002 and 2012). Pathological reports of all eligible patients were reviewed. Multivariable analysis was performed to identify risk factors of LNM. RESULTS: During the study period, PTC was diagnosed in 130 patients with HT who had undergone TT with CND (F/M ratio = 110:20; median age, 52.4 ± 12.7 years). Multifocal lesions were observed in 28 (21.5 %) patients. LNM were identified in 25 of 28 (89.3 %) patients with multifocal PTC and HT versus 69 of 102 (67.5 %) patients with a solitary focus of PTC and HT (p = 0.023). In multivariable analysis, multifocal disease was identified as an independent risk factor for LNM (odds ratio, 3.99; 95 % confidence interval, 1.12 to 14.15; p = 0.033). CONCLUSIONS: Multifocal PTC in patients with HT is associated with an increased risk of LNM. Nevertheless, the clinical importance of this finding needs to be validated in well-designed prospective studies

Coexistence of papillary thyroid cancer with Hashimoto thyroiditis

AIMS: Conflicting data have been reported with regard to Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) and risk of malignancy. The aim of this study was to evaluate coexistence of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) with HT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study in which HT was diagnosed in 452 (F/M ratio = 405:47, median age 53.5 ± 12.1 years) of 7,545 patients qualified for thyroidectomy throughout the years 2002 to 2010. Pathological reports were reviewed to identify prevalence of PTC in HT vs. non-HT patients. RESULTS: PTC was diagnosed in 106 of 452 (23.5 %) HT patients vs. 530 of 7,093 (7.5 %) non-HT patients (p < 0.001). Metastases to level VI lymph nodes were observed in 81 of 106 (76.4 %) patients with PTC in HT vs. 121 of 530 (22.8 %) patients with PTC in non-HT disease (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: HT was associated with a threefold increase of PTC prevalence as compared to other non-HT thyroid diseases, and the spread of PTC to level VI lymph nodes was four times more frequent in HT than in non-HT patients

Optical and X-Ray Topographic Studies of Dislocations, Growth-Sector Boundaries, and Stacking Faults in Synthetic Diamonds

The characterization of growth features and defects in various high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) synthetic diamonds has been achieved with optical and X-ray topographic techniques. For the X-ray studies, both characteristic and synchrotron radiation were used. The defects include dislocations, stacking faults, growth banding, growth sector boundaries, and metal inclusions. The directions of the Burgers vectors of many dislocations (edge, screw, and mixed 30°, 60°, and 73.2°), and the fault vectors of stacking faults, were determined as &lt;110&gt; and 1/3 &lt;111&gt; respectively. Some dislocations were generated at metallic inclusions; and some dislocations split with the formation of stacking faults