Several studies report a higher rate of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), indicating a possible correlation between the two diseases. We studied a group of 89 subjects undergoing surgery for thyroid carcinomas compared with a control group of 89 subjects operated on for normofunctioning goiter, and a second group of 47 patients undergoing total thyroidectomy for HT. Association with HT was found in 19 of the 71 PTC subjects (26.7%) and in 8 goiter patients (8.9%), which was a significant difference ( P < 0.02). Thirteen of the HT patients, mostly with the nodular form, showed coexistent PTC (27.6%). HT and PTC coexisted in several morphological, immunohistochemical, and biomolecular aspects; increased incidence of PTC in HT patients might therefore indicate that HT is a precursor of thyroid cancer. Further studies are required, however, in order to confirm this hypothesis; until then, HT patients should undergo careful clinical and technical follow-up.

Local symptoms in the neck such as swallowing and voice disorders, and throat discomfort might be related to a goiter if present, but are also reported by patients suffering from reflux laryngopharyngitis. The aim of our study was to investigate the presence of reflux laryngopharyngitis in patients with nodular goiter before and after uncomplicated total thyroidectomy (TT) using a prospective study in University Hospital setting. We considered 25 patients, affected by non-toxic nodular goiter and candidates for TT, who complained of local symptoms in the neck. All the patients were carefully interviewed, with emphasis on swallowing and voice disorders, throat discomfort and reflux-related symptoms and underwent a videolaryngoscopy (VLS) and a videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) before and 3 months after TT. Before thyroidectomy, reflux laryngopharyngitis-related alterations were present in 68 and 50% at VLS and VFSS, respectively. After thyroidectomy, the swallowing and voice disorders persisted in 79 and 75%, respectively, while throat discomfort persisted in 91%. The results show that patients with a non-toxic nodular goiter who complain of local neck symptoms, before surgery it is appropriate to see if a reflux laryngopharyngitis is present; VLS and VFSS could be indicated for this and if necessary an antireflux treatment should be administered.

Background: Secretory mammary carcinoma is a rare breast neoplasia originally described in children but sometimes also found in adults. It presents a more favourable outcome than more common histological types of breast carcinoma; published literature in fact reports only a few cases with axillary lymph node metastases and only four cases with distant metastases.

Background The association between Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is a controversial question that is still under debate, its pathological significance and the eventual clinical implications of this association remaining unclear. Methods The data regarding 305 patients were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided in two different groups. A first group made up of 142 patients undergoing surgery for differentiated thyroid carcinoma was compared to a control group of 142 analogous subjects operated for normofunctioning goiter. A second group was made up of 163 patients who had undergone total thyroidectomy (TT) with pre-operative diagnosis of HT. Results In the first group of patients an association with HT was found in 28,6% of the patients with final histopathological diagnosis of PTC versus 7,7% of the patients with histopathological diagnosis of multinodular goiter, which was a significant difference ( p <  0.001). In the second group, the association with PTC was found in 43 (40,2%) cases of HT nodular variant and in 3 cases (8,1%) of HT diffuse variant ( p <  0.001). Conclusions The relationship between HT and PTC is still far from clear and represents an unresolved issue. Our own study has underlined the frequent coexistence of these two pathologies, an aspect not to be neglected in clinical practice. Patients receiving HT diagnosis should undergo careful follow-up and, especially those with the nodular variant, should undergo a frequent both clinical and cytological evaluation of the nodular lesions, taking always into great consideration the surgical approach of total thyroidectomy.