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Scientific Oral Presentation

Pediatric Otolaryngology

Molecular and Clinical Characteristics of Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma with Concurrent Thyroiditis

Sunday, October 18, 2026
1:06 PM - 1:12 PM PT
Location: 409AB

    Presenting Author(s)

  • AG

    Amir Golchin, MD

    Life Science Research Professional 2
    Stanford Medicine, California, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • AM

    Andrea M. Miranda, BS

    Clinical Research Coordinator
    Stanford University, California, United States

  • HS

    Hilary H. Seeley, MD

    Clinical Associate Professor
    Stanford University
    Palo Alto, California, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • KM

    Kara D. Meister, MD

    Assistant Professor
    Stanford Medicine
    Stanford, CA, United States

Disclosure(s):
Amir Golchin, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Thyroiditis may influence the biological behavior of pediatric PTC through immune-mediated mechanisms. This study investigated whether clinical and molecular characteristics differ between pediatric PTC patients with and without concurrent thyroiditis.

Methods: Retrospective database analysis of pediatric PTC patients from the Stanford University Thyroid Registry (2010-present). Subjects included patients ≤18 years with surgically confirmed PTC. Variables analyzed included thyroiditis status, tumor size, multifocality, age, and molecular testing results. Routine molecular testing, including fusion mutation panels (STAMP, STAMP-fusion, ThyroSeq), was implemented in 2021. Statistical analyses included Fisher's exact test for categorical variables, Mann-Whitney U and t-tests for continuous variables, with significance at p< 0.05.

Results: Among 252 pediatric PTC patients (190 without thyroiditis, 62 with thyroiditis), fusion mutations were significantly more common with thyroiditis (44/82 vs 70/237; OR=2.76, p=0.00016). Patients with thyroiditis demonstrated larger tumor size (3.39cm vs 1.69cm, p=0.032) but lower multifocality rates (24/62 vs 41/190, p=0.012). Fusion mutation detection increased over time (R²=0.38, p=0.015), though confounded by testing implementation bias.

Conclusions: Pediatric PTC with thyroiditis exhibits distinct molecular and clinical features, including higher fusion mutation prevalence and larger tumors, suggesting thyroiditis-associated PTC may represent a biologically different disease entity with unique immune-mediated oncogenic mechanisms warranting targeted investigation.