[The incidence of thyroid carcinoma in Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Our experience and literature review].

Abstract

The incidence of thyroid carcinoma in Hashimoto's thyroiditis has been widely debated and it is notorious in many published series. The possibility of an immunological and autoimmune mechanism in the etiopathogenia of papillary carcinomas stimulating lymphocytic infiltration has been suggested. We are reporting an our review of 4 cases of Hashimoto's concomitant with papillary thyroid carcinoma recorded between 1991 and 2001. The clinical data and complementary tests performed before the surgery are reported. Three patients were operated by total thyroidectomy and the other by hemithyroidectomy on a previous one whose diagnosis was malignant. We estimate the coexistence of papillary Ca. and Hashimoto's disease in 36.4% (4 of 11) in our case history.