BACKGROUND: @entity3 to thyroid (TM) are rarely observed in the clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence, clinicopathological aspects and prognosis of TM, and to evaluate the role of thyroidectomy in the management of TM. METHODS: The pathology files (databases) of two Italian Pathology Units were searched for thyroid cytology (FNAC) and histology reports covering the time period January 1993 through December 2003. RESULTS: Thirty-six cases of TM were found, accounting for 0.13% of thyroidectomies and 0.07% of FNAC. The main site of origin of TM was the lung, followed by oesophagus, breast and kidney. TM @entity1 were divided into two groups, based on whether they were (Group 1) or were not (Group 2) submitted to surgery. Thirty-five subjects diagnosed with the same primary @entity5 as TM @entity1 , but without TM, served as controls. The mean @entity1 age, the mean time from diagnosis of primary @entity5 to TM detection, and the mean survival time did not significantly differ in Group 1 and Group 2 (63.2 +/- 1.6 vs. 66.6 +/- 2.9 years, 24.7 +/- 8.6 vs. 19.7 +/- 4.4 months and 24.3 +/- 4.9 vs. 39 +/- 9.9 months, respectively). In contrast, the mean time from detection of TM to death was longer in Group 1 than in Group 2 (14.3 +/- 2.5 vs. 4.5 +/- 0.5 months, respectively; P = 0.002). The overall survival of TM @entity1 and control subjects was not significantly different (33.7 +/- 6.6 vs. 32.3 +/- 6 months). CONCLUSIONS: TM is a rare event, is more frequent in @entity1 older than 60 years, and has the same impact on prognosis as nonthyroidal metastases. Although thyroidectomy may be useful to avoid further dissemination of the primary @entity5 in case of solitary TM, it does not contribute to prolonging @entity1 's life.

XXXX to the thyroid gland: prevalence, clinicopathological aspects and prognosis: a 10-year experience.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'patient'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['tumours', 'tumour'] @entity3 :: ('MESH:D009362', 'Disease') :: ['Metastases']
@entity3 :: (MESH:D009362,Disease) :: ['Metastases']
