Backround: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy tumor and its incidence has increased in many parts of the world. In Madagascar, published histopathological data remain scarce, making local hospital-based series useful for describing diagnostic profiles and care needs. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical and histopathological profiles of epithelial thyroid cancers diagnosed at the Hospital Center of Soavinandriana (CENHOSOA).

Methods: This was a monocentric retrospective, descriptive and analytical study carried out in the Department of Pathology of CENHOSOA over a six-year period, from January 2013 to December 2018. All histologically confirmed epithelial thyroid cancers were included, whereas secondary thyroid tumours, duplicate records and unusable files were excluded.

Results: Among 3041 specimens registered during the study period, 403 were thyroid specimens. After selection, 49 epithelial thyroid cancers were analysed, representing 1.6% of all specimens and 12.1% of thyroid specimens. The mean age was 46.1 ± 13.06 years, with a range from 18 to 79 years, and the 30–45-year age group was the most represented. Women predominated markedly, accounting for 43 cases (87.8%), with a sex ratio of 0.13. The main presenting feature was anterior neck swelling, and multinodular goiter was the most frequent ultrasound pattern. Total thyroidectomy accounted for 67.3% of specimens. Papillary carcinoma was the predominant histological type, observed in 85.7% of cases, followed by anaplastic (6.1%), follicular (4.1%) and medullary carcinomas (4.1%). The pT1 stage was the most frequent, accounting for 57.1% of cases; lymph node metastases were found in 8.1% of cases and one distant metastasis was reported.

Conclusion: This Malagasy hospital-based series shows that epithelial thyroid cancers mainly affect young or middle-aged adult women and are largely dominated by papillary carcinoma. The findings support the need for earlier diagnosis, improved access to thyroid ultrasound and fine-needle aspiration, and standardized pathology report.