[Staging of thyroid cancer--comparison of cases diagnosed preoperatively versus incidentally after surgery for benign goiter].

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare staging of incidentally diagnosed thyroid cancer (TC) to staging of preoperatively suspected TC. This was a retrospective study of 224 patients who underwent surgery for primary TC between 2009 and 2011. Clinical and pathological data included in the TNM and AJCC staging system (7th edition, 2010) were analysed. Staging of incidentally diagnosed TC was compared to staging of preoperatively suspected TC. Suspicion of TC was made before surgery in 57.6% patients, and in 42.4% patients TC was diagnosed postoperatively. Papillary TC was predominant and followed by follicular TC, which were suspected in 88.4% and 4.7% of patients before surgery, and were diagnosed in 77.9% and 16.8% of patients postoperatively (p=0.035 and p