A report of six cases of familial papillary thyroid cancer.

Aims: Familial occurrence of papillary thyroid cancer is uncommon. The purpose of this study was review our own experience in a series of 267 papillary thyroid cancers.

Methods: We analysed the clinical records of 267 consecutive patients operated on for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) in our hospital between June 1980-March 2000.

Results: We identified a family history in three families (6 patients), which results in a 2.25% familial papillary thyroid carcinoma (FPTC) rate. Pathology findings revealed that the tumour was multifocal and bilateral in 2 patients. Lymph-node metastases were found in 4 patients. They are all alive with a mean time of follow-up of 74.3 months (range 2-120).

Conclusions: We recommend that patients with familial disease should be treated according to the disease stage and other risk factors, similar to those with sporadic differentiated papillary thyroid cancer. We encourage the further reporting and pedigree analysis to identify patients affected by FPTC.