Follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma with B-type Raf(V600E) showing higher frequency of suspicious sonographic features and multifocality.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between B-type Raf (BRAF) kinase mutation and clinicopathological features of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

METHODS

Eighty-four patients with pathologically confirmed follicular variant of PTC, who underwent a preoperative BRAF(V600E) study, were analyzed. Clinicopathological parameters and ultrasonographic features were compared between the BRAF(V600E) -positive and negative groups.

RESULTS

A total of 41.7% of the patients showed BRAF(V600E) . The BRAF(V600E) -positive group showed the smaller tumor size (7.3 ± 3.6 mm vs 10.7 ± 8.9 mm; p = .018) and the more frequent multifocality (25.7% vs 8.2%; p = .028). Follicular variant of PTC with BRAF(V600E) showed suspicious ultrasonographic features (88.6% vs 57.1%; p = .002) more frequently. BRAF(V600E) positivity is associated with multifocality after adjusting for age, sex, the presence of suspicious ultrasonographic features, pathological tumor size, and thyrotropin level.

CONCLUSION

BRAF(V600E) was correlated with smaller tumor size and suspicious ultrasonographic features in follicular variant of PTC. BRAF(V600E) was a significant parameter for predicting multifocality of follicular variant of PTC.