Clinicopathological Characteristics of Thyroid Cancer: A 10-Year Experience at a Tertiary Care Center in Saudi Arabia

Background Thyroid nodules are typically an initial sign of thyroid cancer (TC) and require evaluation by thyroid ultrasonography. Additional measures, such as fine needle aspiration, may be necessary depending on the level of malignancy risk. This study aims to comprehensively analyze TC clinical, radiological, and histopathological characteristics in a cohort of Saudi patients. Methods A retrospective chart review was carried out on TC patients who were being followed up at a tertiary care center in the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia. The study included all patients aged 15 years and above diagnosed between 2013 and 2022 with adequate histopathological data. Statistical analysis used: SPSS v.27 was used for the data analysis. Results In total, 272 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 47.23 ± 12.6 years. Of these, 222 (81.6%) were females. Nearly two-thirds of the affected patients had a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 25. The most common histological type of cancer was classical papillary thyroid carcinoma, accounting for 58.5% of cases. The average tumor size was 2.52 cm. The majority of patients presented with TNM stage I (86%), while one-fourth of the study population had thyroid imaging reporting and data systems (TI-RADS) 6 and Bethesda V. metastatic lymph nodes were predominantly among males (57.8%), and those younger than 50 years of age. The extrathyroidal extension was observed in 72% of tall-cell papillary thyroid carcinomas and 62.5% of oncocytic variant papillary thyroid carcinomas, compared to less than 50% in other subtypes (p < 0.001). Conclusions In our study, TC primarily affects obese middle-aged women. However, male gender and younger age are significant risk factors for lymph node involvement. Additionally, histopathological subtypes, rather than clinical parameters, are more likely to increase the risk of extrathyroidal extension. Given the conflicting data regarding clinical risk factors associated with the development of TC, lymph node metastasis, and extrathyroidal extension, further research is needed to clarify these discrepancies.