566 Serum Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (S-TSH) Levels as a Predictor of Malignancy in Thyroid Nodules

Introduction The evaluation of thyroid nodules include: a clinical history and examination followed by ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration cytology of ultrasonically suspicious nodules. Even after a full evaluation, some thyroid nodules are found to be indeterminate in respect of malignancy. It has been suggested that high levels of sTSH can be used as a predictor of malignancy in thyroid nodules. Method A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent surgery for thyroid nodules between 01st January 2019 and 31st December 2022. Patients who had been on Thyroxine or Carbimazole/ Propylthiouracil were excluded. Data was collected using previous medical records and patient interviews. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 24. Results Data collection was completed on 102 patients. 86 patients (84.3%, mean age 43.6 years) were female, and 16 patients (15.6%, mean age 45.2 years) were male. Histologically confirmed thyroid malignancy was present in 18 patients (17.6%), out of which 15 (83.3%) were female and 3 (16.6%) were male. There was no statistically significant (P<0.05) difference in the sTSH noted in patients with thyroid carcinoma (mean sTSH 1.378 μIU/ml) compared to histologically benign nodules (mean sTSH 1.350 μIU/ml). Conclusions Multiple studies done in different settings have shown an association between a high sTSH and a higher possibility of thyroid carcinoma. However, in our cohort of patients no such association was observed.