MULTINODULAR GOITER VS. SOLITARY THYROID NODULE: A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL COMPARISON

Objective: To compare the clinicopathological features of multinodular goiter and solitary thyroid nodule in a tertiary
care hospital.
Material and Methods: This prospective cross sectional study was carried out in the department of ENT, Head and
Neck Surgery, KGMC/HMC, Peshawar, Pakistan from June 2012 to May 2014. All the patients were evaluated pre-operatively
in terms of detailed history, thorough clinical examination and relevant investigations. Thyroidectomy was
performed according to the pre-operative and per-operative findings, nature and extent of the disease in all patients.
The data were collected on a proforma and analyzed using SPSS version 17. Chi square test was applied keeping P
value of < 0.05 as significant.
Results: Out of 130 patients included in this study 40 (30.7%) were male and 90 (69.2%) were female with male: female
ratio of 1: 2.2. Age of the patients ranged from 17-65 years, with mean age of 46.47 +S.D 5.27 years. Majority of the
patients i.e. 66 (50.7%) were in the age group 41-59 years followed by 40 patients(30.7%) in the age group of 21-40
years. There was no significant difference in the age and gender among these patients (P=0.112, P=0.990). Out of
130 patients 67(51.5%) were having multinodular goiter while 63(48.5%) had solitary thyroid nodule. The commonest
clinical features were anterior neck swelling (100%), followed by cervical lymphadenopathy (6.9%).Papillary and follicular
carcinomas were the commonest findings on FNAC and histopathology with no significant difference between
multinodular goiter and solitary thyroid nodules.
Conclusion: There is no difference between the age and gender and incidence of thyroid malignancy between the
patients with multinodular goiter and solitary thyroid nodules. Papillary and follicular carcinomas are the commonly
occurring thyroid carcinoma.