The clinicopathological features of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma

Objective To analyze the clinical and pathological features of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (FVPTC).Methods Clinical data of 131 FVPTC patients diagnosed and treated between January 2006 and June 2012 were retrospectively analyzed.Results Of the 131 FVPTC patients,the median age at diagnosis was 45 years and 74.0％ patients were female.Pathologically 29％ (38 patients) of the FVPTC patients were encapsulated,and 71％ (93 patients) were nonencapsulated.Compared with classical papillary thyroid carcinoma (CPTC),FVPTC patients were more likely to have lower ultrasound diagnostic accuracy rate,frozen section accuracy rate,tumor muhicentricity,tumor bilaterality,lymph node metastasis,lateral lymph node metastasis rate,N staging,TNM stage,ATA risk and higher M staging and concomitant chronic thyroiditis rate (all P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,there were significant differences between nonencapsulated and encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma in tumor size,TSH level,ultrasound diagnostic accuracy rate,extrathyroid invasion,T staging,lymph node metastasis,N staging,TNM staging,ATA risk and recurrence rate (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Compared with CPTC,FVPTC have different clinical and biological features.It's necessary for different management strategies for different FVPTC patients. Key words: Thyroid neoplasms ;  Carcinoma,papillary ;  Pathology, clinical