Incidental thyroid carcinoma after thyroidectomy for benign thyroid disease in Suez Canal region

Background The term 'incidental' thyroid cancer is a term applied to a very small, unsuspected cancer identified incidentally on pathologic examination of thyroid tissue removed for benign disease. Aim The aim was to evaluate the prevalence of incidental thyroid carcinoma (ITC) after thyroidectomy for benign thyroid lesions with its different pathological types. Patients and methods The study population was selected by comprehensive sampling. All the patients attended the General Surgery Department in the Suez Canal University hospital for thyroidectomy of previously diagnosed benign thyroid diseases within the period between 1 July 2009 and 31 December 2014 and fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Results In this study, 211 patients underwent thyroidectomy. The female (n=179) to male (n=32) ratio was 5.6 : 1, and the age ranges from 18 to 75 years. The highest age incidence was found to be in the fifth decade of life (60 patients). In this study, the incidental carcinoma was found in 22 (10.4%) patients. The frequency of papillary carcinoma was 8.5% of all thyroid diseases and 81.8% of ITC (18/22). Moreover, the frequency of follicular carcinoma was 1.4% of all thyroid diseases (three cases) and 13.6% of ITC. Conclusions A correct preoperative assessment, with a careful selection of nodules for fineneedle aspiration cytology on the basis of ultrasound pattern, could better address the choice of surgical procedure.