View clinical trials related to Nodular Goiter.
Filter by:Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a tumor originating from parafollicular C cells of the thyroid. (1) Representing 1 to 7% of all thyroid carcinoma cases (2, 3, 4). It can occur in two clinical forms, the sporadic or non-hereditary, in 75-80% of patients, and the hereditary form in the remaining 20-25%. It can be part of different clinical syndromes depending on the organs involved: Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2A (MEN2A), Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2B (MEN2B) and Familial Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (FCM) whose clinical expression is only CMT. A distinctive characteristic of this tumor is its capacity to secrete calcitonin (CT), which, measured in serum, sanctions suspicion of this pathology (5-8) leading to diagnostic studies to confirm CMT. For the preoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules, ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a useful and safe procedure; however, its sensitivity to exclude CMT is low (9-15). In 2015, a meta-analysis of 15 studies (16) found that the accuracy of FNAC in diagnosing CMT was around 50%. For this reason, other studies have indicated that the measurement of calcitonin in the fine-needle lavage aspirate fluid of thyroid nodules (CT-guided FNAC), which have suspected medullary carcinoma, can significantly improve the accuracy in the diagnosis of MTC (17 -19). Therefore, clinical practice guidelines recommend its determination in patients with suspected MTC (1,2). The diagnostic importance of pre-surgical medullary carcinoma lies mainly in two points: first, it changes the surgical approach of the patients, and second, it allows one to rule out associated pathologies such as hyperparathyroidism and pheochromocytoma, which are associated when the entity is hereditary. The performance of CT-guided FNAC by the chemiluminescent (CL) method has been widely disseminated. However, to the best of our knowledge, to date there are no data available on the appropriate cut-off value of CT-guided FNAC with calcitonin electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunometric assay method. As previously stated, it is of particular interest to determine the calcitonin cut-off point in needle washing by electrochemiluminescence method that allows diagnosing medullary carcinoma. Clarifying this point allows improving the approach to patients in whom medullary carcinoma is suspected. This work seeks to determine the cut-off point of CT-guided FNAC for the diagnosis of CMT with the ECL assay method.
Nodular goiter is a highly prevalent disease in iodine-deficient areas. Usually nodule assessment includes ultrasonography (US) and fine-needle aspiration (FNA), but some benign nodules can hardly be distinguished from carcinomas. Elastography measures tissue elasticity using sonography, as malignancy is related to stiffness of solid organs. The investigators have designed a study to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of elastography in nodular goiter. Consecutive patients will be assessed using US, FNA and elastography; the latter will be compared with cytology. Specificity, sensitivity, and predictive values will be calculated.
This proposal is designed as a pilot study for the use of laser ablation for local control of symptomatic (e.g compressive) benign thyroid masses in 20 patients.
The study aims at clarifying (in a randomized, double-blinded design): 1. Whether stimulation with 0.1 mg rhTSH 24, 48 or 72 hours before induction of a 131I-tracer dosis increases the 131I uptake in patients with atoxic multinodular goitre and to study which time interval is the most optimal (Part I) 2. Whether patients suffering from atoxic multinodular goitre obtains a corresponding goitre reduction compared with a control group when stimulating with 0.1 mg rh TSH 24, 48 or 72 hours before 131I therapy and when reducing the thyroid radiation dose to 50 Gy (Part II) The two studies will be carried out successively on the same patient population. The 131I uptake will be carried out first followed by the I therapy itself. The patients are compared with a placebo-treated control group going through the same course of treatment, but the 131I dosis will be 100 Gy (standard treatment). After the 131I therapy, all patients are followed during one year with a regular ultrasound scan of the thyroid gland and control of the metabolic status. The patient satisfaction is monitored by the use of a visual-analogue-scale.