The Relationship between Pre-operative Anti-thyroglobulin Antibody Level and Lymph Node Metastasis and Recurrence in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate the relationship between positivity and level of pre-operative anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) and stage, recurrence, and metastasis in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). METHODS Three hundred and thirty-one patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and whose TgAb was measured in the pre-operative and post-operative period were included in the study. The laboratory and clinicopathological data of the patients were recorded from patient files. RESULTS Of the 331 patients enrolled, 253 (76.4%) were female and 78 (23.6) were male, and the mean age was 46.7 +/- 15.4. The final histopathology results were DTC in 126 (38.1%) patients and benign in 205 (61.9%) patients. TgAb was positive in 26 (20.6%) of 126 patients in the DTC group, while it was positive in 29 (14.1%) of 205 patients in the benign group. In patients with DTC, having lymph node metastasis, recurrence, and receiving radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation were found to be associated with higher pre-operative TgAb levels (p=0.023, p=0.032 and p=0.022, respectively). The TSH level at the time of diagnosis was significantly higher in the DTC group compared to the benign group (p<0.001). CONCLUSION In our study, pre-operative TgAb levels were found to be significantly higher in DTC patients with lymph node metastasis or recurrence. We found that pre-operative TgAb level significantly correlated with recurrence and lymph node metastasis.