TUESDAY, July 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) — More than half of thyroid cancers are identified in patients with no symptoms, according to a study published online July 14 in JAMA Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.

Mirabelle Sajisevi, MD, of the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of the pathology and medical records of 1,328 patients who underwent thyroid-directed surgery at 16 centers in four countries (Canada, Denmark, South Africa and USA) to examine whether the modes of detection (MOD) used to identify thyroid nodules for removal have changed. Participants were the first 100 patients (or highest number available) from each center who underwent thyroid surgery in 2019.

A total of 1,328 participants underwent thyroid surgery and met the inclusion criteria: 34, 41, 14, and 12% of surgeries were for thyroid-related symptoms, thyroid findings without thyroid-related symptoms, thyroid, endocrine conditions and nodules with MOD of origin. unknown, respectively. Researchers found that 46% of patients had cancer. Of these, 30 and 51% were symptomatic and had no thyroid-related symptoms, respectively. The average size of identified cancers was 3.2 and 2.1 cm in the symptomatic and asymptomatic groups, respectively. MOD patterns differed significantly between participating countries.

“Most thyroid cancers continue to be discovered in asymptomatic patients, supporting the hypothesis of continued detection of subclinical disease rather than a true increase in disease,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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