Autoimmune and Neoplastic Thyroid Diseases Associated with Hepatitis C Chronic Infection

Fallahi, Poupak; Ferrari, Silvia Martina; Politti, Ugo; Giuggioli, Dilia; Ferri, Clodoveo; Antonelli, Alessandro

The prevalence of thyroid cancer was also investigated in a series of unselected 94 MC + HCV patients in comparison with a gender-and age-matched control group obtained from a sample of the general population (470 subjects). The prevalence of thyroid nodules was higher in control subjects than in MC + HCV patients (65.3% versus 54.8%), even though not significantly. Two patients with PTC were found in the MC + HCV series, while no case was observed among controls ( = 0.001). Lymphocytic infiltration was observed in the thyroid tissue in both MC + HCV patients with PTC [84] . Other studies have confirmed an association between AT and thyroid cancer [85, 86] . Accordingly, features of AT were observed more frequently in HCV patients than in controls suggesting that AT may be a predisposing condition for thyroid cancer [87] . Since about 15-30% of HCV patients may show an aggressive disease, for example, lung metastases, difficult to treat [88, 89] , the finding of an 4 International Journal of Endocrinology increased prevalence of thyroid cancer in these patients is clinically relevant [90] .