Open Access, Peer-reviewed
pISSN 2508-8149
eISSN 2508-8459
    Korean J Endocr Surg. 2015 Dec;15(4):93-98. Korean.
    Published online Dec 17, 2015.
    https://doi.org/10.16956/kjes.2015.15.4.93
    Copyright © 2015 Korean Association of Thyroid and Endocrine Surgeons; KATES. All Rights Reserved.
    Original Article

    Clinical Characteristics and Incidence of Thyroid Nodule in the Male Population for Health Check-up

    Yeon Jin Jeon, Young Teag Koh, Seung Jong Oh and Min Young Koo
      • Department of Surgery, National Police Hoispital, Seoul, Korea.
    • Correspondence: Min Young Koo. Department of Surgery, National Police Hoispital, 123 Songi-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05715, Korea. Tel: +82-2-3400-1232, Fax: +82-2-3400-1233, Email: jskim0126@skku.edu
    Received October 29, 2015; Revised November 20, 2015; Accepted November 30, 2015.

    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

    Abstract

    Purpose

    Thyroid nodules are a common disease in clinical practice. The prevalence of thyroid nodules has recently increased according to the development of thyroid ultrasonography. Thyroid nodules are more commonly found in women, but the potential for malignant nodules is much higher in men. The purpose of this study was to assess clinical characteristics and the incidence of thyroid nodules and malignancy in the adult male population.

    Methods

    Clinical characteristics and incidence of thyroid nodules was examined by screening ultrasonography targeting 6,968 male patients over the age of 40 who visited the National Police Hospital from January 2012 and April 2015.

    Results

    Among 6,968 male patients, 2,481 (35.6%) showed abnormal findings on ultrasonography. Of the 2,481 patients, 2,370 patients (34.01%) had a thyroid nodule and 111 patients (4.47%) had thyroiditis without a thyroid nodule, previous thyroidectomy, lymphadenopathy, esophageal diverticulum, parathyroid cyst, and benign calcification. Of the 2,481 patients, 958 patients (38.6%) had abnormal TFT and 204 patients (8.22%) had thyroiditis with or without a thyroid nodule. Thyroid nodules were benign in 1993 (80.33%) cases, indeterminate in 313 (12.61%) cases, and suspicious in 64 (2.56%) cases. Among the 2,481 subjects, thyroid cancer was detected in 37 subjects (1.49%).

    Conclusion

    The incidence of thyroid nodules has recently increased according to the development of thyroid ultrasonography.

    Keywords
    Thyroid nodule; Thyroid cancer; Ultrasonography; Male

    Figures

    Fig. 1
    Percentage of patients with ultrasonographically detected abnormal findings by age distribution.

    Fig. 2
    Ultrasound finding of benign presentation of thyroid nodule found papillary carcinoma at biopsy. (A) Transverse sonogram. (B) Longitudinal sonogram.

    Fig. 3
    Ultrasound finding of benign cystic nodule with lateral lymph node metastasis. (A) Transverse sonogram of thyroid nodule. (B) Tranverse sonogram of lateral lymph node. (C) Longitudinal sonogram of lateral lymph node.

    Tables

    Table 1
    Status of blood thyroid function test in patients with positive ultrasound results

    Table 2
    Characteristic of thyroid nodules detected in ultrasound

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    MeSH Terms
    Adult
    Diverticulum, Esophageal
    Female
    Humans
    Incidence*
    Lymphatic Diseases
    Male*
    Mass Screening
    Police
    Prevalence
    Thyroid Gland*
    Thyroid Neoplasms
    Thyroid Nodule*
    Thyroidectomy
    Thyroiditis
    Ultrasonography
    Metrics
    Share
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    Tables
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