The role of preoperative serum thyroglobulin and thyroid auto-antibody levels before histopathological diagnosis of thyroid cancers

Authors: SAMET YALÇIN, BURAK VELİ ÜLGER, ÖMER PARLAK, ALİ ERKAN UÇAR, SEYYİT MUHSİN SARIKAYA, MEHMET ÖZER, BİROL KORUKLUOĞLU, BÜLENT YALÇIN, AHMET KUŞDEMİR

Abstract: If a frozen section pathological examination is not performed in unilateral thyroid nodule surgery and the postoperative pathological diagnosis is cancer, a second operation may be required. Therefore, it was studied whether serum thyroid auto-antibody levels are useful or not in determining preoperative malignancy in patients with thyroid disorders. Materials and methods: It was investigated retrospectively whether there was a correlation between preoperative serum thyroglobulin (Tg), anti-thyroglobulin antibody (anti-Tg), and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO) levels and thyroid cancer in patients who had undergone thyroidectomy. Results: Two hundred and eighty-seven patients who had undergone thyroid surgery and whose preoperative serum levels of Tg, anti-Tg, and anti-TPO had been recorded were included in this study. Only 54 (18.8%) of the patients had a malignant diagnosis in the postoperative histopathological examination. Sixteen of the patients who had a postoperative malignant thyroid disease diagnosis (29.6%) had high serum Tg, anti-TPO, and/or anti-Tg levels. The rate of high serum Tg levels was significant in patients with a benign pathology (49.4% vs. 31.5%, P = 0.018). Conclusion: It appears that preoperative measurement of serum Tg, anti-TPO, and anti-Tg levels is not a useful method to predict malign thyroid diseases.

Keywords: Thyroid cancers, anti-thyroid antibodies, thyroglobulin

Full Text: PDF