Thyroid cancer in Sardinian pediatric patients: report of 63 cases and a review of the literature

Abstract

8%), according to the last WHO classification. Autoimmune thyroid diseases were detected in the 29 PTCs (64% of PTCs). BRAF V600E mutation was found in 21 PTCs (47% of PTCs). Our study shows that thyroid cancer in Sardinian children and adolescents is characterized by peculiar features: our cohort is composed only by Follicular-derived differentiated thyroid cancer without medullary carcinomas; PTC seems to be more frequent and strongly associated with autoimmune thyroid diseases in our population. Those evidences, together with the absence of any exposure to radiation in our patients, support the possibility that autoimmune diseases became an important event to be considered also in the evolution of pediatric thyroid carcinogenesis.