Original Article

Year : 2018 | Volume : 1 | Issue : 2 | Page : 41-47

BRAF status in the variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma

Daphne Fonseca, Sudha S. Murthy, Ravindranath Tagore, Vishal Rao, Chandrashekar S. Rao1 , K. V. V. N. Raju1, Hemant Kumar Nemade1 , Sundaram Challa

Departments of Laboratory Medicine and 1 Surgical Oncology, Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Address for correspondence:

Dr. Daphne Fonseca, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital and

Research Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

E‐mail: daf_doc_2005@hotmail.com

Abstract

Aim:

The aim was to study the BRAF status by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in the variants of papillary carcinoma thyroid and compare it with the clinicopathological parameters.

Materials and Methods:

All the thyroid carcinomas diagnosed during the period of January 2015–June 2018 were reviewed and classified according to the WHO 2017 criteria. The demographic and clinicopathological features were noted. Microarrays were prepared on 27 cases, including classic and variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC), and medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). IHC was performed with BRAF V600E by automated staining. The BRAF status was correlated with known prognostic markers.

Results:

There were 23 PTC, 3 PDTC, and one MTC. The PTC included seven classic, three solid, two each of microcarcinoma, infiltrative and encapsulated follicular variant, tall-cell variant (TCV), oncocytic and one each of diffuse sclerosing, nodular fasciitis-like stroma, and Warthin-like variants. BRAF positivity was seen in 44.44%, including 11 PTC and one PDTC. The positivity was 85.71% in classic and 31.25% in variants. The age (>45 vs. <45 years), gender (male vs. female), number of lesions (unifocal vs. multifocal), type of tumor(PTC vs. other tumors), subtype of PTC (classic PTC vs. variants), invasion (capsular vs. lymphovascular), and aggressive features(extrathyroidal extension vs. lymph nodal involvement) between BRAF positive and negative tumors were not statistically significant (Fisher’s exact test at P < 0.05).

Conclusion:

BRAF status did not show correlation with known prognostic variables in classic as well as variants of PTC.

Keywords: BRAF immunohistochemistry, papillary thyroid carcinoma, prognostic markers, variants

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

How to cite this article: Fonseca D, Murthy SS, Tagore R, Rao V, Rao CS, N. Raju KV, et al. BRAF status in the variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma.Int J Head Neck Pathol 2018;1:41-7.