Characteristics and Clinical Outcomes of Pediatric Thyroid Nodules: An In-depth Analysis from a Single-Center Study in Indonesia.

Background: Pediatric thyroid carcinoma, the most common endocrine malignancy among children, displays a notably higher incidence rate of 16% compared to 5% in adults. This disease often presents as advanced illness in pediatric cases, yet there's a paucity of data on its clinical features in this demographic. Our study, a first in North Sumatera, Indonesia, aims to fill this gap by examining the clinical characteristics of pediatric thyroid carcinoma.Objective: This research endeavors to provide comprehensive data on the demographic and clinical profiles of pediatric patients with thyroid nodules treated at our institution.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted from 2018-2021, encompassing 35 pediatric patients (under 18 years) who underwent partial or total thyroidectomy for thyroid nodules. We reviewed and analyzed patient demographics and pathology results, presenting these as frequencies and percentages.

Results: Of the patients, 85.7% (30 patients) were female, and 14.3% (5 patients) were male, with an average age of 15.66 years (ranging from 10 to over 16 years). The age distribution showed 60% (21 patients) between 16-18 years, 22.9% (8 patients) between 6-11 years, and 17.1% (6 patients) between 12-15 years. Diagnoses included Colloid Goitres (42.9%), Follicular Adenoma (22.9%), Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (20%), Hashimoto Thyroiditis and Graves' disease (5.7% each), and Follicular Neoplasm (2.9%).

Conclusion: The study period witnessed a steady prevalence of pediatric thyroid nodules necessitating thyroidectomy. This underscores the critical need for early detection of thyroid nodules in children for malignancy screening. Timely diagnosis is paramount for favorable outcomes and prognoses in pediatric thyroid conditions.