The goal of this observational study is to identify demographic and clinicopathological factors associated with disease recurrence in adults with histologically confirmed papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) who achieved an initial disease-free status after primary treatment.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Which demographic and clinicopathological characteristics are associated with an increased risk of PTC recurrence?
Researchers will compare patients who developed biochemical or structural recurrence with those who remained recurrence-free to assess the prognostic role of age, sex, tumor size, histological subtype, vascular invasion, capsular invasion, gross invasion of the prethyroid strap muscles, concomitant thyroiditis, multifocality, lymph-node status, and pathological stage.
As this is a retrospective study, participants will not undergo any study-specific intervention or additional procedure. Researchers will review existing demographic, surgical, pathological, treatment, and follow-up data from a prospectively maintained institutional database. Follow-up data include serial serum thyroglobulin measurements, neck ultrasonography, recurrence, and disease-specific mortality.