In order to study the association between these two diseases, we analysed the data of thyroid malignomas registered in the Endocrinology Clinic and Institution of Pathology Târgu-Mureş between 1995-2003. Among the 219 thyroid cancers 21 were associated with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and 4 with Graves’ disease. From the 21 patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis 17 had papillary thyroid cancer, and each from the others a folliculo-papillary carcinoma, a Hürthle-cell carcinoma, a B-cell lymphoma and an undifferentiated cancer, respectively (female/male ratio: 11/1). 3 from the 4 women thyroidectomized for Graves’ disease had papillary micro- or intracapsular carcinoma, too. Studies demonstrated that malignant lymphomas and Hürthle-cell carcinomas can arise on Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (but this can be associated also with other differentiated thyroid carcinomas). Some authors consider Hashimoto’s thyroiditis as a precancerous state, based on the similarity between the pathomechanisms of autoimmune processes and those of thyroid carcinogenesis, while others intrepreted the infiltrations type Hashimoto as a defence reaction, contributing to the best prognosis of this differentiated thyroid cancer.
Keywords: papillary thyroid carcinoma, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease, thyroid carcinogenesis, autoimmune thyroid processe