Parathyroid gland involvement by thyroid cancer: results from a large series of thyroidectomies performed in two italian university hospitals and review of the literature

Objectives.Parathyroid involvement by thyroid cancer (TC) has not been frequently investigated in thyroidectomy-based studies. We aimed to detect cases of parathyroid invasion by TC in a large series of thyroidectomies and to review the literature on this topic. Study Design. A 10-yr period database research was made from the files of the Section of Pathology of two Italian University Hospitals. Out of 22,310 thyroidectomies, 10 patients with parathyroid involvement by TC were found. Results. The 10 patients, 7 females and 3 males, aged 55 ± 14 years (range 34-76, median 56) had papillary thyroid carcinoma and accounted for 0.4% of subjects affected by all TCs and submitted to thyroidectomy. The tumor invaded perithyroid soft tissues in 6 patients and central neck (level VI) lymph nodes in 3. Parathyroid involvement by TC occurred by infiltration in 6 cases, extension through an intervening pseudocapsule in 1, and both patterns in 3. All patients are alive and disease free at 5.6 ± 3-yr follow-up. Conclusion. Limited to thyroidectomy series, our results and literature data suggest that parathyroid involvement by TC has a 0.4-3.9% incidence rate; mainly affects women in their sixth-seventh decade of life; is associated to a good prognosis, unless massive extrathyroid extension of TC occurs.