Clinicopathologic features and outcome of the oncocytic variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to define the clinicopathologic features and outcome of the oncocytic variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (OVPTC) with a review of the literature.

Methods: Twenty-three patients with OVPTC over a 10-year period were studied. Demographic, clinical, and histopathologic features and outcome data were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: Seventeen women and 6 men, ages ranging from 20 to 76 years (95% confidence interval, 43.0 to 54.48), were studied. Cervical lymph node involvement was found in 43.4% of the patients. Most of the recurrences were associated with thyroid masses greater than 2 cm in diameter. Evaluation of the overall survival data by the Kaplan-Meier method revealed that most recurrences took place earlier than 30 months, and the majority of patients (74%) were well, with no evidence of disease, up to 78 months after the last treatment. All of the OVPTC cases presented as nonencapsulated tumors, and 78.2% demonstrated extrathyroid stromal invasion.

Conclusions: OVPTC is a unique variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma that has distinctive clinicopathologic features. Since OVPTC is often associated with local invasion and may involve cervical lymph nodes, it may require more extensive surgery than classic papillary thyroid carcinoma.