Difference Between Follicular Thyroid Cancer and Papillary Thyroid Cancer


Differentiated thyroid cancer describes both follicular and papillary forms of the disease, which share certain characteristics with healthy thyroid glands but exhibit malignant behavior. Both are treatable malignancies that spread slowly and together account for roughly 90% of thyroid carcinomas. However, there are distinctions between the two.

What is Follicular Thyroid Cancer?

Malignant follicular thyroid cancer with a higher degree of aggressiveness. It accounts for just around 15% of all thyroid carcinomas and is extremely uncommon.

The first signs of this disease include a change in voice, pain in the neck, increasing hoarseness, and trouble swallowing; later, the cancer spreads to other organs, such as the lungs and bones.

Characteristics of Follicular Thyroid Cancer

Following are the characteristic features of Follicular Thyroid Cancer −

  • Occurs between ages 40 through 60

  • Females more common than males by 3 to 1 ratio

  • Prognosis (the likely course of a medical condition) directly associated to tumor size [less than one cm (3/8 inch)]

  • Related to radiation exposure on rare occasions

  • Spread to lymph nodes is not common (~ twelve percent)

  • Cancer spread to lungs or bones is not common, but definitely more common in comparison to the papillary cancer

  • Curative possibility is high (near 95% for small lesions in young patients), reduces with advanced age

  • Invasion into the circulatory system (veins and arteries) within the endocrine gland (the thyroid gland) is common

What is Papillary Thyroid Cancer?

Long, narrow channels with invaginations of cytoplasm into the nuclei describe the genetic material (nuclei) of papillary thyroid cancer cells, which are located in the superficial layer of the dermis and are elevated to form papillae and follicular structures.

Papillary carcinomas are characterised by their encapsulated and contained morphology, deep narrow-mouthed depression or follicles, tall cells, a stack of columns in an epithelial layer (columnar-cell), clear cells, and scattered pathological hardening of tissue (sclerosing).

Characteristics of Papillary Thyroid Cancer

Following are the characteristic features of Papillary Thyroid Cancer −

  • Occurs between ages 30 through 50

  • More common in women than men by three to one ratio

  • Prognosis (the likely course of a medical condition) directly related to tumor size [less than one and a half cm (half an inch)]

  • Accounts for 85% of thyroid cancers

  • X-ray exposure or radiation exposure can be causative factors

  • Spread to lymph nodes of the neck present in up to fifty percent of cases

  • Cancer spread to lungs or bones is very rare

  • Curative possibility is very high (near hundred percent for small papillary cancers in young patients)

Differences: Follicular Thyroid Cancer and Papillary Thyroid Cancer

The following table highlights the major differences between Follicular Thyroid Cancer and Papillary Thyroid Cancer −

Characteristics

Follicular Thyroid Cancer

Papillary Thyroid Cancer

Definition

This type of thyroid cancer is not very common and is rare. It is typically a bit more aggressive (more malignant) than papillary thyroid cancer.

Papillary Thyroid Cancer is the most common form of cancers of the thyroid and arises from the thyroid epithelial cells or thyrocytes, which produce and store triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4); the thyroid hormones.

Route of spread

Usually hematogenous route of spread

Usually lymphatic route of spread

Metastasis

Distant metastasis to occiput

Distant metastasis to lungs

Etiology/Risk factor

Insufficient Iodine intake, irradiation exposure and older age

Iodine excess

Conclusion

In Follicular Thyroid Cancer, the tumor is encapsulated. This type of cancer occurs in people older than 50. On the other hand, in Papillary Thyroid Cancer, the tumor is un encapsulated and multicentric in 20 to 80% of patients. Cancer of papillary thyroid usually affects people aged 30 to 50.

Updated on: 26-Apr-2023

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