SAT-079 Is There an Association Between the Detection Method for Pediatric Thyroid Nodules and the Risk of Malignancy?

Background Thyroid nodules are less common in children compared to adults, but have a higher likelihood of malignancy. There are few studies, particularly in the pediatric population, examining the association between how and by whom the nodule is detected and the risk of malignancy. Several adult studies have suggested a high rate of malignancy in incidentally discovered thyroid nodules (1,2). However, this was not similarly seen in pediatric thyroid nodules according to one study (3). As fine needle aspiration (FNA) in pediatric patients may be more labor intensive and diagnostic excision is the recommendation for nodules with indeterminate or potentially malignant cytology, if the detection method can be a predictive measure of malignancy, it may enhance the evaluation of pediatric thyroid nodules. Objective The aim of this study is to determine if there is an association between how and by whom a thyroid nodule is detected and the risk of malignancy in the pediatric population. Study Design and Methodology We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of pediatric patients (≤21 years of age) who had a thyroid nodule with definitive cytologic or pathologic diagnosis from January 2010 to June 2019. Patients were categorized into 3 groups based on how and by whom the nodule was detected: (1) patient or parent, (2) provider, or (3) imaging obtained for non-thyroid indications (incidental). Characteristics that were evaluated included rate of malignancy, size of the nodule, location of the nodule, and size of the cancer (if present). Results A total of 78 patients with concerning thyroid nodules were analyzed. Within the study, the cancer rate was 27% (21/78), which is comparable to the reported malignancy rate of pediatric thyroid nodules in the literature (22-26%) (4), suggesting that our sample population may be representative of the general pediatric thyroid nodule population. In our study, though the absolute numbers were small, there was a higher rate of malignancy in the incidental group (3/5, 60%) compared to the patient/parent (9/34, 26%) and provider (9/39, 23%) groups. The average size of the thyroid nodule was similar in all 3 groups. The strength of this study was the inclusion of only patients with definitive diagnosis of the thyroid nodule and the possibility of the findings being applicable to the general pediatric population. Conclusions In our sample study, incidentally discovered pediatric thyroid nodules had a higher rate of malignancy as compared to those discovered by patients/parents or providers. References 1. Kang HW, et al. Thyroid 2004; 14(1):29-33. 2. Liebeskind A, et al. J Ultrasound Med 2005; 24(5):629-634. 3. Gupta A, et al. J Pediatr 2014; 164(3):658-660. 4. Francis GL, et al. Thyroid 2015; 25(7):716-758.