Shering S G, Zbar A P, Moriarty M, McDermott E W, O'Higgins N J, Smyth P P
Department of Surgery, St Vincent's Hospital, University College Dublin, Ireland.
Eur J Cancer Prev. 1996 Dec;5(6):504-6.
We have investigated the controversial association between diseases of the thyroid gland and breast carcinoma using methodology which allows positive exclusion of cases of breast disease from control groups and the detection of subclinical alterations in thyroid volume using high resolution ultrasonography, thus addressing the deficiencies of earlier studies. Whereas the prevalence of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism in patients with breast carcinoma and in healthy controls without clinical evidence of breast disease was similar, non-toxic goitre was more than twice as common in the breast carcinoma patients. Thyroid volumes were also significantly higher in breast carcinoma patients than in controls; using World Health Organisation criteria, 45.5% of breast carcinoma patients had thyroid enlargement compared with only 10.5% of controls. Finally, antithyroid peroxidase autoantibodies were twice as common in breast cancer patients than in controls. These findings provide clear evidence of a relationship between thyroid disease and breast carcinoma, although the mechanisms underlying this relationship require further study, future studies of breast cancer risk factors should therefore include assessment of thyroid function, antibody status and volume.
我们采用了一种方法来研究甲状腺疾病与乳腺癌之间存在争议的关联，该方法能够从对照组中明确排除乳腺疾病病例，并使用高分辨率超声检测甲状腺体积的亚临床改变，从而弥补了早期研究的不足。虽然乳腺癌患者和无乳腺疾病临床证据的健康对照者中甲状腺功能亢进和减退的患病率相似，但非毒性甲状腺肿在乳腺癌患者中的发生率是对照组的两倍多。乳腺癌患者的甲状腺体积也显著高于对照组；根据世界卫生组织的标准，45.5%的乳腺癌患者存在甲状腺肿大，而对照组中这一比例仅为10.5%。最后，抗甲状腺过氧化物酶自身抗体在乳腺癌患者中的出现率是对照组的两倍。这些发现为甲状腺疾病与乳腺癌之间的关系提供了明确证据，尽管这种关系背后的机制需要进一步研究，因此未来关于乳腺癌风险因素的研究应包括对甲状腺功能、抗体状态和体积的评估。
