Incidence and Clinicopathological Features of Papillary Microcarcinoma Thyroid

Background Papillary microcarcinoma thyroid (PMCT) are mostly diagnosed incidentally after thyroidectomy even in this era with advanced diagnostic modalities. Even though PMCT have a good prognosis and low rate of recurrence, PMCT can rarely behave as cancer with metastasis and invasion. Hence there is a need for determining clinicopathologic features associated with PMCT to help clinicians optimise thyroidectomy in such patients and avoid complications of frank malignancy. Methods This cross-sectional observational study was done in surgery department of a tertiary care hospital in India. All patients diagnosed with PMCT in thyroidectomy specimen from 2003 to 2018 were included. The case sheets and histopathology reports were retrieved from the computerised ling system, and their contact details were collected for follow up. Results Incidence of PMCT in thyroidectomy was 1.8%, and 79% of them were diagnosed incidentally. The most common age group for occurrence of PMCT was 30 to 50 years and the most common presentation was swelling in front of neck (96.0%). Euthyroid status (78%) was seen in most cases. The most common benign pathology associated was follicular nodular disease (55.7%) and the malignant condition associated was papillary carcinoma thyroid (20.7%). The pathologic examination showed that unifocal lesions were more common (79%). Conclusion PMCT are mostly hidden in thyroid pathologies and diagnosed incidentally. From this study we could determine the clinicopathologic features associated with PMCT. Cases with unifocal lesions with euthyroid status and follicular nodular disease should be considered with utmost care for detecting hidden PMCT.