Influence of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis on the risk of persistent and recurrent disease in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma and elevated antithyroglobulin antibodies after initial therapy.

Introduction: In patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma who have negative serum thyroglobulin after initial therapy, the risk of structural disease is higher among those with elevated antithyroglobulin antibodies compared to patients without antithyroglobulin antibodies. Other studies suggest that the presence of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis is associated with a lower risk of persistence/recurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Objective: This prospective study evaluated the influence of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis on the risk of persistence and recurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma in patients with negative thyroglobulin but elevated antithyroglobulin antibodies after initial therapy.