Histological Spectrum of Papillary Carcinoma of Thyroid ? A Two Years Study

Introduction Papillary carcinoma of thyroid is the most common malignant tumor constituting about 80 % of all malignancies of Thyroid. It has an indolent course with an excellent prognosis. Histological variants with aggressive behavior have been reported. Further non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions associated with papillary carcinoma have also been reported. Objectives To analyze the various histological types and associated lesions in cases of papillary carcinoma of thyroid. Materials and Methods Retrospective analysis of 108 cases of papillary carcinoma of thyroid over a period of two years from August 2006 to July 2008 has been done. Results Conventional type of papillary carcinoma is the predominant histological pattern constituting about 75 %. Other variants are follicular (14 %), encapsulated (4 %), tall cell (2 %), occult (2 %), diffuse sclerosing, cribriform& morular and macrofollicular (1 % each). Associated lesions include nodular colloid goiter (14 %), chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (11 %), follicular adenoma (2 %). Normal morphology is seen in 73 % of cases. Discussion The commonest histological type is conventional papillary carcinoma which correlates with this study. The variants presenting in descending order of frequency are follicular variant, encapsulated variant (8 13 %), microcarcinoma (5-10 %), tall cell (10 %), diffuse sclerosing (3 %) according to literature. This study correlates with findings in the literature.