| Objective:To analyze the clinicopathological features of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma(FVPTC) and explore the difference between classical papillary thyroid carcinoma(CPTC) and FVPTC.Method:Clinicopathological data of 297 papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC) patients in Peking Union Medical College Hospital(PUMCH) from January 2009 to June 2014 was collected.2 pathologists independently reviewed the pathological slides for histological features and re-determined the pathology subgroups. Clinicopathological features of FVPTC and CPTC cases were compared. Differences between encapsulated FVPTC and non-capsulated FVPTC were also analyzed.Results:In 297 PTC cases, 148(49.8%) and 149(50.2%) cases were categorized as CPTC and FVPTC,respectively. Female patients constituted 65.5% and 79.2% of the two subgroups.Average age were 43.17±11.77 and 44.90±9.75 years. Encapsulated FVPTC,non-capsulated FVPTC constituted 17(11.4%), 132(88.6%) of the FVPTC cases, among which 64.7% and 81.1% were females, average age was 45.18±7.41 and 44.86±10.03 years.FVPTC and CPTC were Significantly different in terms of the percentage of female patients(79.2% vs 65.5%, P=0.008), mircocarcinoma(77.2% vs 62.8%, P=0.007), lymph node metastasis(LNM)(43.0% vs 58.8%, P=0.006), BRAFV600 E mutation(76.2% vs97.6%, P=0.004). In FVPTC cases, encapsulated and non-capsulated diseases were different in the percentage of the lesion with a poorly defined boarder(53.3% vs 79.1%,P=0.048) and halos(33.3% vs 3.1%, P=0.001) under ultrasonography. Finally, the percentage of female patients(65.5% vs 81.1%, P=0.004), microcarcinomas(62.8% vs7.3%, P=0.009), LNM(58.8% vs 42.4%, P=0.006) and BRAFV600 E mutation(97.6% vs76.3%, P=0.011) were significantly different between CPTC and non-capsulated FVPTC.Conclusion:FVPTC is very common in the clinical practice. It has unique clinicopathological features.Compared to CPTC, FVPTC had a lower probability for LNM and BRAF mutation. |
