Occult thyroid carcinoma in olmsted county, minnesota: Prevalence at autopsy compared with that in hiroshima and nagasaki. Japan

Abstract

Nine occult carcinomas of the thyroid were found in 157 autopsies of deceased residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, a prevalence of 5.7%. This rate is significantly lower than that reported from a previous autopsy series from Hiroshima‐Nagasaki, Japan, in which similar pathologic methods and diagnostic criteria were used. Sex ratio, age distribution, and radiation exposure are considered not to explain this difference. A true difference between the Japanese and American populations with respect to the prevalence of occult thyroid carcinoma is the most likely explanation of these findings.

An Epidemiological Analysis of Thyroid Cancer in a Spanish Population: Presentation, Incidence and Survival

“…With the new classification published in 2004, the previous definition of MPTC now includes the additional criteria of being found incidentally (LiVolsi, 2004). MPTC seems to be present in a significant proportion of the general population with large variations in the prevalence rate between different geographic areas (6-35%) (Sampson et al, 1974), which may also be due to differences in the depth of the pathological examination (Martinez-Tello et al, 1993). Although the mortality risk for an individual patient with thyroid cancer is the greatest concern for patients and clinicians alike, most patients have excellent 10-20-year disease specific survival (Hundahl et al, 1998).…”

Thyroid papillary microcarcinoma: a descriptive and meta-analysis study

“…An elevated prevalence of thyroid microcarcinoma has consistently been observed in the Japanese population, 13.7-28.4% (37,(75)(76)(77)(78). This may be related to radiation exposure during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but is probably due to ethnicity since Japanese residing in Hawaii, not exposed to bomb radiation, have a similar prevalence of thyroid microcarcinoma, 24% (37,79).…”

“…This may be related to radiation exposure during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but is probably due to ethnicity since Japanese residing in Hawaii, not exposed to bomb radiation, have a similar prevalence of thyroid microcarcinoma, 24% (37,79). In 4620 autopsy cases, PTMC was observed in 9.9% when only a suspected lesion was examined and in 15.5% of 1262 autopsy cases when the entire gland was examined (13,29,37,59,75,76,(80)(81)(82)(83)(84)(85). Therefore, the prevalence of occult thyroid microcarcinoma increases with the extent of the examination of the thyroid, in particular with the thinness of the anatomical slices of the thyroid specimens (29).…”

Outcome predictors and impact of central node dissection and radiometabolic treatments in papillary thyroid cancers ≤2 cm

“…PTMs account for up to 30% of all differentiated thyroid cancers (Bramley & Harrison 1996) and are frequently diagnosed during surgery for benign thyroid diseases, being classified as 'incidental PTM' (Baudin et al 1998, Sugitani & Fujimoto 1999. Several studies demonstrated that PTMs have a more favorable prognosis than larger tumors (Hay et al 1992, Noguchi et al 1996, Baudin et al 1998, Sugitani & Fujimoto 1999 and the high prevalence of these tumors in autoptic series (5-35%; Sampson et al 1974, Harach et al 1985 favored the idea that PTMs can become clinically evident in a minority of cases. Nevertheless, locoregional recurrences (0-11% of patients with PTM; Grant et al 1988, Hay et al 1992) and, in rare cases, distant metastases, have been reported (Strate et al 1984, Mazzaferri & Jhiang 1994, indicating the need to distinguish between lowand high-risk tumors even in the microcarcinoma category.…”