Post-Chernobyl Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in Belarus: Histopathological Features, Treatment Strategy, and Long-Term Outcome

Abstract

This chapter presents the results of studies on pediatric papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in Belarus after the Chernobyl accident. Our investigations are based on a scrupulous histopathological review of all cases by a group of experienced pathologists with special skills in thyroid neoplasia, who confirmed the diagnosis, and determined the extent of disease and tumor characteristics using the up-to-date criteria. Lymph and/or blood vessel invasion, desmoplastic stromal reaction (fibrosis), the presence and distribution of psammoma bodies, PTC variants, tumor growth pattern (architectonics), etc., were used as variables tested for association with regional and distant metastases at presentation, and disease recurrence. In addition, age at diagnosis, age at exposure, and the duration of latency were shown to independently affect clinical and morphological features of PTC. Treatment strategy and further thyroid cancer management in children and adolescents should take into account the aforementioned etiological, pathological, and biological peculiarities of the tumor.