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ABSTRACT
Although thyroid cancers are quite rare in the population, thyroid nodules are common and about 5 % of all thyroid nodules are reported to be malignant. Factors predisposing to thyroid malignancies are different, one of them being ionizing radiation. We evaluated 2225 patients with a thyroid mass between the years 1996-2001 in our thyroid outpatient clinic and fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) was performed to 2012 cases who accepted. Among all cases FNAB revealed malignancy in 59 patients. In this study we aimed to deliniate the histopathological pattern of thyroid cancers in the Southern Marmara region in the last decade and compare it with our previous results obtained with a similar analysis conducted between the years 1985-1995. We found a statistically insignificant increment in papillary thyroid cancer frequency while follicular and anaplastic thyroid cancers were decreasing and medullary cancer was unchanged. In conclusion, the increment in papillary/follicular ratio might be due to iodine replacement procedures which were obliged and supported by the goverment in recent years and more importantly to the possible effect of radiation fallout that occured in Chernobyl in 1986 which Turkey might be affected as well as the other countries being in the neighbourhood.
Although thyroid cancers are quite rare in the population, thyroid nodules are common and about 5 % of all thyroid nodules are reported to be malignant. Factors predisposing to thyroid malignancies are different, one of them being ionizing radiation. We evaluated 2225 patients with a thyroid mass between the years 1996-2001 in our thyroid outpatient clinic and fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) was performed to 2012 cases who accepted. Among all cases FNAB revealed malignancy in 59 patients. In this study we aimed to deliniate the histopathological pattern of thyroid cancers in the Southern Marmara region in the last decade and compare it with our previous results obtained with a similar analysis conducted between the years 1985-1995. We found a statistically insignificant increment in papillary thyroid cancer frequency while follicular and anaplastic thyroid cancers were decreasing and medullary cancer was unchanged. In conclusion, the increment in papillary/follicular ratio might be due to iodine replacement procedures which were obliged and supported by the goverment in recent years and more importantly to the possible effect of radiation fallout that occured in Chernobyl in 1986 which Turkey might be affected as well as the other countries being in the neighbourhood.