Background-Papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (mPTC), tumors less than or equal to 1 centimeter, have been considered the same clinical entity as follicular-variant thyroid microcarcinomas (mFVPTC). The purpose of this study was to use population-level data to characterize differences between mFVPTC and mPTC. Materials & Methods-We identified adult patients diagnosed with mFVPTC or mPTC between 1998 and 2010 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Binary comparisons were made with the student's t-test and chi-squared test. Multivariate logistic regression was used to further analyze lymph node metastases and multifocality. Results-Of the 30,926 cases, 8,697 (28.1%) were mFVPTC. Multifocal tumors occurred with greater frequency in the mFVPTC group compared to the mPTC group (35.4% vs. 31.7%, p<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression indicated that patients with mFVPTC had a 26% increased risk of multifocality (OR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.2-1.4, P<0.01). In contrast, lymph node metastases were nearly twice as common in the mPTC group compared to the mFVPTC group (6.8% vs. 3.6%, p<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression confirmed that patients with mPTC had a 69% increased risk of lymph node metastases compared to patients with mFVPTC (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.4-2.0, p<0.01). Conclusions-Multifocality is not unique to classical mPTC and occurs more often in mFVPTC. The risk of lymph node metastases is greater for mPTC than mFVPTC. The surgeon should be aware of these features as they may influence the treatment for these microcarcinomas.

Background-Radioactive iodine (RAI) scanning is a method of determining the functional status of thyroid nodules. Historically, practitioners thought "cold," or inactive nodules were more likely malignant. However, surgeons now do not find these scans helpful for preoperative management of euthyroid patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of RAI scans.

BACKGROUND-Using minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (MIP), most surgeons require a 50% decline in intraoperative parathyroid hormone (IoPTH) to determine cure, but the significance of IoPTH kinetics occurring after this drop remains unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of IoPTH levels that first meet criteria for cure, but then increase again, or rebound, between 10 and 15 minutes post-excision.