THU224 Is Chronic Lymphocytic Thyroiditis Associated With Aggressive Differentiated Thyroid Cancer In A Predominantly Hispanic Pediatric Population?

Disclosure: N. Solano: None. D. Baboun: None. A. Martinez-Sanchez: None. A. Diaz: None. A. Carrillo-Iregui: None. F. Alkhoury: None. Background: The risk of developing papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) appears to be increased among patients with chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (CLT). Studies in adults have shown that the presence of CLT is associated with less aggressive PTC; however, this correlation is unclear in pediatric patients. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine a possible correlation between CLT and markers of aggression severity using histopathological findings, tumor size, and lymph node involvement among patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) in a free-standing children’s hospital with a predominantly Hispanic population. Methods: Upon Institutional Review Board approval, we performed a retrospective chart review from 2012-2022 of 55 patients with a final diagnosis of DTC. We analyzed the correlation between CLT and histopathological findings. Statistical analysis was performed by using t-tests and chi-squared tests. Results: The patients reviewed were between 8-20 years of age. Forty-nine (89.1%) patients identified as Hispanic, and 41 (74.6%) were females. Twenty-five (45.5%) patients had a diagnosis of CLT; 19 (76.0%) of these patients had classic PTC, 3 (12.0%) had the follicular variant of PTC, and 3 (12.00%) had another variant of PTC. Of the 30 (54.5%) patients who did not have CLT, 13 (43.3%) had the classic variant of PTC, 10 (33.3%) had the follicular variant of PTC, and 7 (23.3%) had another variant of PTC. The distribution of the histopathological findings was significant (p=.048). Patients with CLT had significantly smaller tumor sizes (1.8 vs. 2.5 cm, respectively [p=.048]). Of the 36 patients with lymph node involvement, 20 (55.6%) had CLT. Of the 19 patients without lymph node involvement, 5 (26.3%) had CLT. The association between the presence of CLT and lymph node involvement was significant (p=.038). Conclusions: In our population, patients with CLT had a significantly higher presence of the classic variant of PTC. Studies in adults have shown a tendency of these lesions to have a higher risk of disease than those with the follicular variant. Patients with CLT had a smaller tumor size, likely as a result of earlier detection of thyroid nodules due to frequent clinical evaluations and thyroid ultrasounds. However, patients with CLT tended to have a higher frequency of lymph node involvement. More studies with pediatric populations are needed to clarify the possible association between CLT and DTC. Presentation: Thursday, June 15, 2023