Thyroid Diseases among Patients from Hadhramout Province, Yemen

Objective: To determine the histopathological pattern of thyroid diseases among patients in Hadhramout Province, Yemen.Materials and Methods: A descriptive retrospective study was conducted at Ibn Sina Central Teaching Hospital, in Mukalla city, Hadhramout, Yemen between January 2007 and December 2012. Eight hundred and seventeen patients with thyropathy were included in this study diagnosed histologically by experienced pathologists using fine needle aspiration cytology. This was followed up by postoperative pathological thyroid specimen study. The patients in the study were treated medically and surgically by authors.Results: 817 patients with thyropathy were included in the study. There were 716 (87.6%) females and 101(12.4%) males, with a female to male ratio of 7:1. The age of the patients ranged from 5 to 80 years, with a mean age of 37.7±12.2 years. Median age was 35 years. More than half of the patients aged between 21-40 years. The majority of the thyroid lesions were non neoplastic 703 (86%). The most common lesion was simple colloid goiter 578 (82%) followed by thyroid Hashimoto 75 (10.7%). The minority were granulomatous (subacute) thyroiditis, hyperplastic nodule and thyroglossal cyst, 5 (0.7%), 6 (0.9%), 8 (1.1%) respectively. 114 (14%) patients had neoplastic lesions. 61(7.5%) patients had benign adenoma, 2 (1.75%) patients had Hurthel cell adenoma. 43(5.3%) patients had papillary carcinoma while 3 (2.63%) patients had anaplastic carcinoma. The less common malignant neoplastic thyroid lesions were primary lymphoma, follicular and medullary carcinoma, mucoepidermoid carcinoma 2(1.75%), 1(0.9%), 1(0.9%),1 (0.9%) respectively.Conclusion: The most common non-neoplastic thyroid disorder reported in this study is a simple colloid goiter. Adenoma was found to be the most common benign tumor while papillary carcinoma was found to be the most common malignant one. Most cancerous lesions were found within the age groups in the third and the fourth decade, mostly females.Key words: simple colloid goiter, Hashimoto thyroiditis, papillary carcinom