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7045522 
Journal Article 
LYMPHOCYTIC THYROIDITIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED NUMBER OF BENIGN CERVICAL NODES AND FEWER CENTRAL NECK COMPARTMENT METASTATIC LYMPH NODES IN PATIENTS WITH DIFFERENTIATED THYROID CANCER 
Donangelo, I; Walts, AnnE; Bresee, C; Braunstein, GD; , 
2016 
Yes 
Endocrine Practice
ISSN: 1530-891X
EISSN: 1934-2403 
AMER ASSOC CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS 
JACKSONVILLE 
1192-1198 
27732096 
WOS:000389842700007 
Objective: Whether or not autoimmune thyroid disease influences the progression of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) remains controversial. Findings of previous studies are influenced by lead time bias and/or procedure bias selection. These biases can he reduced by studying a single-institution patient population that underwent a similar extent of surgical resection.Methods: From a cohort of 660 patients with DTC who underwent thyroidectomy, we retrospectively studied 357 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and central compartment node dissection (CCND) for DTC between 2003 and 2013.Results: Forty-one percent (140/345) of study patients had lymphocytic thyroiditis (IT), and 30% (91/301) had serum positive for thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb). IT was reported in 78% of the TgAb-positive cases. Sixty percent (213/357) of cases had metastatic thyroid carcinoma in 1 or more neck lymph nodes (55% [198/357] central compartment, and 22% [77/356] lateral compartment). Patients with IT had fewer metastatic cervical lymph nodes than those with no LT (2.7 +/- 4.7 vs 3.5 +/- 4.8, respectively, P = .0285). Patients with positive TgAb and thyroiditis had a larger number of benign cervical lymph nodes removed than those with negative TgAb or no LT No significant difference was observed in age, tumor size, multifocality, extrathyroithd extension, vascular invasion, or frequency of cervical lymph node metastasis between TgAb-negative and -positive cases or between cases with and without LT.Conclusion: Lymphocytic thyroiditis is associated with fewer central neck compartment metastatic lymph nodes and a larger number of excised reactive benign cervical lymph nodes. Whether this association indicates a protective role of thyroid autoimmunity in lymph node spreading remains unclear.