To Study and Compare the Relationship between Preoperative Serum TSH and Frequency of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Abstract

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) plays a key role in the growth and development of thyroid cells and also regulates the function of the thyroid gland. Apart from the multiple risk factors for thyroid cancer like age, male gender, exposure to ionizing radiation and family history of thyroid cancer, higher TSH levels have also been linked to increase the chances of thyroid cancer. This study is performed in a tertiary care hospital over 3 years with 338 samples amongst which 82 patients had DTC and 256 patients had benign thyroid nodules. Serum TSH level was measured by automated enzyme-linked fluorescent assay (ELFA) technique. Biomerieux mini-Vidas hormonal analyzer was used to measure the hormone levels, and the reference ranges were stratified into 4 different groups. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 version software. Chi-square test was used as a test of significance and p-value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. As a conclusion, it can be said that no significant association between higher TSH level and DTC were found. Several authors have investigated the relationship but the results have been inconsistent. A prospective study with a large sample size will be needed for further outcomes.