• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5921-5926
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• 2014

A large proportion of patients with thyroid nodules in China undergo thyroidectomy in order to get confirmatory histology diagnosis. The financial impact of this modality remains to be investigated. To evaluate rationality of performing thyroidectomy without a routine FNA preoperatively from the economic perspective, we conducted a retrospective, observational study of all archival thyroidectomies with records of cost per stay (CPS), cost per day (CPD) and length of stay (LOS) from 2008 to 2013 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. We compared all the parameters between cancer and non-cancer thyroidectomies. We recruited 6, 140 thyroidectomies with valid records of CPS, CPD and LOS in this period. The CPS of cancer thyroidectomy was significantly higher than non-cancer thyroidectomy. The percentage of cancer thyroidectomy increased from 26.5% to 41.6%. The percentage of annual cost of cancer thyroidectomies rose from 30.2% to 45.2%. The LOS for cancer and non-cancer thyroidectomy decreased while the CPD increased in the past six years. The estimated national cost in 2012 for all thyroidectomies would be USD 1.86 billion with USD 1.09 billion for non-cancer thyroidectomies. We have witnessed great improvement in the healthcare for patients with thyroid nodules in China. However, given limited healthcare resources, currently thyroid FNA for more precise preoperative diagnosis may help to curb the rapidly increasing demand in healthcare costs in the future for nodular thyroid disease in China.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.213-220
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• 1997

Background: Thyroid cancer is a relatively rare neoplasm and its incidence varies geographically and ethnically around the world. Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy, but it has a wide spectrum of biologic behavior, histologic appearance, and management. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyse and evaluate all aspects of the clinical consideration in thyroid cancer. Method: Between 1986 and 1995, a retrospective analysis of 77 thyrod cancer patients admitted at the Department of Surgery, Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University was made to assess clinical entities. Result: By the pathological classification, the papillary carcinoma was the most common type(83.1%). Male to female ratio was 1 : 5.4 and most prevalent age group was noted from fourth decade to fifth decade(46.8%). The most common duration of illness between the appearance of the symptoms and the treatment was below 6 months(44.2%), and the most common symptom was the palpable mass at the anterior portion of the neck(96.1%). Most cases of the thyroid cancer were appeared as cold nodule in the $^{99m}$Tc-thyroid scan(95.7%). In the site of tumor location, the right and left lobe was distributed similarly. In the extent of tumor, incidence of intrathyroidal location was 41.6%, and that of the metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes was 44.2% and that of the direct capsular invasion was 27.3%, and incidence of both involved case was 13%. Surgical procedures were total thyroidectomy alone in 27 cases(35.1%) or with modified neck dissection in 6 cases(7.8%), or with radical neck dissection in 2 cases (2.6%), near total thyroidectomy alone in 22 cases(28.6%), ipsilateral lobectomy with isthmectomy alone in 12 cases(15.6%) or with modified neck dissection in 1 case(1.3%), and biopsy only in 7 cases(9.1%). The most common postoperative complications were transient hypoparathyroidism(5.2%) and transient unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis(5.2%). Conclusion: The major problem of management of thyroid cancer include a wide spectrum of clinical behaviour of this tumor entity, the lack of reliable prognostic factors and lack of an objective assessment of the various treatment modalities. But because of showing the favorable prognosis for most thyroid cancer, appropriate and aggressive management should be recommended.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2013

Objectives: The aims of this study were to know the prevalence of cognitive disorders in patients with thyroid cancer, and identify related variables to them. Methods: Subjects were consisted of fourty-two patients with thyroid cancer, who were admitted for radioiodine ablative therapy at 6-12 months after total thyroidectomy. The data were obtained from interviews about history and assessments of depression and cognitive function(Korean Version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA-K). Results: 1) Among subjects, those with below 22 of total score of the MoCA-K were twenty-one(50.0%). 2) Upon age, education, Pre-radioiodine therapy thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH), there were statistically significant difference between subgroup with above 23 of the total MoCA-K score and those below 22. 3) The total scores of the MoCA-K in subjects had significant correlation with age, education, comorbidity, Pre-radioiodine therapy TSH, total score of the HDRS-17. Conclusions: Cognitive disorders were more prevalent among patients with thyroid cancer before radioiodine therapy. Therefore, further study should be needed to clarify the mechanism for the cognitive disorders in thyroid cancer. Furthermore, physicians should pay attention to the cognitive function and prepare preventative measures for cognitive disorder during management of thyroid cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 1982

113 patients with nodular goiter were studied cytologically by needle aspiration for differential diagnosis at the department of internal medicine, Chung Nam National University Hospital since October 1980 till July 1981, and the final diagnosis taken from biopsies were compared with the cytologic method on the 44 cases who received operation. The results were obtained as follows: 1. Among the 113 cases of total patients, male were 15 cases (13.3%) and female were 98 cases (86.7%) and the sex ratio (M:F) was 1 : 6.5. The peak age incidence was in the third decade followed by forth and second decades. 2. The findings of cytological diagnosis in 113 cases showed benign adenoma in 69 cases (61.1 %), Subacute and chronic thyroiditis in 22 cases(19.5%), papillary carcinoma in 15 cases (13.3%) and follicular carcinoma in 7 cases (6.2%), respectively, and 48 cases (69.6%) of the.adenomas and 2 cases(9.1%) of papillary carcinomas showed combined cystic degeneration of the nodules. 3. The diameter of the nodules by palpation revealed within $2\sim5cm$ in 88 cases (77.9%) out of 113 cases, below 2 cm in 17 cases and over 5cm in 8 cases and there were no significant relationship between the size of the nodule and disease entity. 4. The findings of thyroid scintigram using $^{131}I$ in 113 cases of nodular goiter showed "cold nodule" in 111 cases (98.2%) and normal scan (radioactivity) in 2 cases (1.8%) which showed adenoma in cytology and there was no cases with "hot nodule". 5. The thyroid functions of the 113 cases revealed as euthyroidism in 108 cases (95. 6%), hypothyroidism in 2 cases (1.8%) who showed chronic thyroiditis and hyperthyroidism in 3 cases (2.7%) in adenomas but there was no evidence that the nodules of the above 3 cases were the reason of hyperthyroidism. 6. In 44 operated cases, the histological diagnosis revealed 23 cases of adenoma out of 27 cases(85.2%) who were diagnosed as adenoma by cytology and 15 cases of malignancy out of 17 cases (88.2 %), and the overall diagnostic accuracy of aspiration cytology was 86.4 %.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 2016

Background and Objectives: Quality of voice may be deteriorated after thyroidectomy without any injury to recurrent laryngeal nerve. While there have been several studies showing the change of acoustic parameters after thyroidectomy, factors related to deteriorated voice quality have been rarely studies. In this study, we sought to analyze the factors associated to deteriorated voice quality after thyroidectomy. Materials and Methods: We made a retrospective review of 35 patients who underwent thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid carcinoma. Voice analysis including acoustic analysis, voice handicap index 10 (VHI-10), and GRBAS score was conducted before and 3 months after surgery. Patients were grouped according to the amount of increase in VHI-10 after surgery ; group A (${\Delta}VHI<7$) and group B (${\Delta}VHI{\geq}7$). Clinicopathologic factors associated to patients of group B were analyzed and changes of parameters from acoustic analysis in each group were evaluated. Results : Patients of group B were associated with age ${\geq}45$ years (p=0.025) and showed borderline association to total thyroidectomy (p=0.075) and tumor size ${\geq}1cm$ (p=0.086). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that those with age ${\geq}45$ years were independently associated to deteriorated quality of voice (p=0.014, HR=18.38). Patients of group B were also associated to significant deterioration of high pitch (p<0.001) and Grade score with borderline significance (p=0.054). Conclusion: Patients older than 45 years may have higher risk of deterioration of quality of voice after thyroidectomy based on increase of VHI-10 score (${\Delta}VHI{\geq}7$). Association with deterioration of high pitch should also be considered in these patients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.66-72
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• 2013

Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy Cytology (FNABC), which is known as the most accurate and cost-effective method for diagnosis of the thyroid nodule, may still result in indeterminate cases that are cellular paucity and show minor nuclear atypia. However, most cases are associated with suspicion of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). A B-type Raf kinase (BRAF) mutation was found in about half of PTCs which is currently helping us to differentiate malignancies from benign lesions. Cases studied included 46 histological, confirmed PTC cases. FNABC 102 cell paucity and 74 atypia benign cases were previously diagnosed as suspicious of PTC using cytologic examination. These cases were analyzed for BRAF mutation by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) with a new restriction enzyme. In this study, the sensitivity and specificity were calculated and, BRAF mutation was detected by means of a histological method in 23 of 46 cases of PTC and no mutation was found in 22 cases. However, one case was not detected. In using FNABC, BRAF mutation was detected in 6 of 102 cases in cell paucity and in 11 of 74 cases in the atypia. Two cases were not detected in the atypia. The sensitivity and specificity of PCR-RFLP in FNABC were 60% and 97.4% respectively. Assessment of Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedding (FFPE) block demonstrated similarly a 51.1% positive and 48.9% negative in PTC. Evaluation of BRAF mutation revealed high specificity and low sensitivity in using FNABC method. This study suggests that BRAF mutation analysis should be useful for the clinical diagnosis of PTC in FNABC with cytological findings suspicious for PTC.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2008

Although subacute granulomatous thyroiditis(SGT) is usually diagnosed clinically, papillary carcinoma or other thyroid conditions must be considered in the differential diagnosis. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and fine-needle aspiration(FNA) cytologic findings seen in 10 SGT cases to decide what are the most reliable cytologic findings and the most helpful molecular tools for reaching a confident cytologic diagnosis. The most representative smear slides were retrieved to perform immunocytochemistry for cytokeratin 19(CK19) and Ret protein. Five papillary carcinomas(PTCs) were included as controls. The constant and typical cytologic findings of SGT were multinucleated giant cells(MGCs) (100%), epithelioid granulomas(90%), an inflammatory dirty background(90%) and plump transformed follicular cells(80%) without fire-flare cells, oncocytic cells or transformed lymphocytes. The immunoreactivities for CK19(37.5%) and Ret(10%) of the follicular cells of SGT were less than those(CK19 and Ret:100%) of PTC. CK19 immunoreactivity of the MGCs was seen in only one case of PTC. There was no significant difference between CK19 and Ret immunocytochemical staining for the MGCs of both SGT and PTC. The results of this study demonstrate that the cytological diagnosis of SGT can be improved by employing a combination of the typical and constant diagnostic cytological features and immunocytochemical results.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.335-338
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• 2009

본 연구에서는 HIF-$1{\alpha}$의 과발현은 VEGF의 발현과 유의한 상관 관계가 있음을 보여 주었다. 그리고, HIF-$1{\alpha}$의 과발현과 E-cadherin의 발현 사이에도 연관성은 있었지만 통계적인 유의성은 없었다. 종양의 병기와 VEGF, HIF-$1{\alpha}$, E-cadherin, p53의 상관성을 살펴본 결과 E-cadherin에서만 유의성이 관찰되었다. 갑상샘 유두암종에서 HIF-$1{\alpha}$의 발현이 종양의 증식과 관련된 단백, 특히 맥관형성과 관련된 단백인 VEGF의 발현, p53의 축적 및 E-cadherin의 발현소실과의 관계, 그리고 병리학적 표지자와의 관련성을 조사하고, 갑상샘 유두암종 환자의 수술후 예후와의 관계를 알고자 하였다.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 1993

유두상 갑상선암의 대부분은 서서히 진행하는 양호한 임상경과를 보이나, 일부는 저등급 혹은 미분화 갑상선암으로 전환되는 생물학적 특성을 보인다. 저자는 유두상 갑상선암 환자 358예를 적용된 치료방법과 치료결과를 분석하여 논란이 되고 있는 치료방법들 중에서 적절한 치료방법을 찾고자 본 연구를 시도하였다.% 568예중 동측엽절제술 및 협부 절제술 혹은 갑상선 아전 절제술 220예, 갑상선 전 절제술 혹은 근전절제술 143예, 종양적출술 5예였고, 이중 115예는 여러가지 형태의 경부 곽청술이 추가되었고, 150예는 수술후 방사성 동위원소 치료까지 추가되었다. 또 전 환자에서 TSH 억제를 위한 갑상선 호르몬 투여를 하였다. 추적 기간은 5년에서 12년까지 평균 8.5년이었다. Cady와 Rossia AMES Scoring system에 따라 저위험군과 고위험군으로 나누어 재발율과 사망율을 산출한 결과 저위험군 255예중 재발율 11.0%, 사망율 0.4%, 고위험군 65예중 재발율 36.9%, 사망율 20.0%을 보여 고위험군에서 현격히 불량한 예후를 나타내었다. 따라서 저자들은 유두상 갑상선암의 치료방법 선택은 일률적인 치료방법 보다는 환자 개인의 임상적 특성, 병기 등을 고려하여 저위험군에서는 소극적 수술을, 고위험군에서는 적극적인 수술과 수술후 보조치료를 시행하는 것이 바람직하다고 사료되었다.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.2094-2123
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• 2021

Incidental thyroid nodules are commonly detected on ultrasonography (US). This has contributed to the rapidly rising incidence of low-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma over the last 20 years. The appropriate diagnosis and management of these patients is based on the risk factors related to the patients as well as the thyroid nodules. The Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR) published consensus recommendations for US-based management of thyroid nodules in 2011 and revised them in 2016. These guidelines have been used as the standard guidelines in Korea. However, recent advances in the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules have necessitated the revision of the original recommendations. The task force of the KSThR has revised the Korean Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System and recommendations for US lexicon, biopsy criteria, US criteria of extrathyroidal extension, optimal thyroid computed tomography protocol, and US follow-up of thyroid nodules before and after biopsy. The biopsy criteria were revised to reduce unnecessary biopsies for benign nodules while maintaining an appropriate sensitivity for the detection of malignant tumors in small (1-2 cm) thyroid nodules. The goal of these recommendations is to provide the optimal scientific evidence and expert opinion consensus regarding US-based diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules.