Incidence, Types and Risk Factors for Thyroid Cancer in Patients with Multinodular Goitre , Prospective Study.

Multinodular goiter (MNG) is a common thyroid disorder characterized by the presence of multiple nodules in the thyroid gland. It is a benign condition, but a proportion of patients with MNG have risk of developing thyroid cancer .

Thyroid carcinoma is one of the most frequent types of endocrinological cancers, and its occurrence has been on the rise globally. Total thyroidectomy is regarded as the most effective surgical treatment for MNG and is also advised for patients with diagnosed thyroid cancer.

Several studies have revealed a greater incidence of thyroid cancer in MNG. Published data regarding the prevalence of thyroid cancer within a multinodular goitre (MNG) have demonstrated a wide distribution of cancer rates, ranging from 3 to 35 percent.

Although fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is the most accurate and cost effective method of thyroid nodule evaluation, benign cytological -diagnosis is associated with false-negative. Further complicating this topic, FNA cytology may be non-diagnostic in up to 25 per cent of patients with nodular thyroid disease, and its performance in the setting of MNG presents other difficulties, including deeply located thyroid nodules that may be more challenging to aspirate as well as reliably evaluating all suspicious nodules.

Incidental thyroid cancer (ITC) is sometimes detected in the final pathological examination, the incidence of ITC after surgery varies widely in literature, ranging from 2% to 30%.