Table I.

Clinical features of the MI-FTC patients in this study.

						Tg (ng/ml)d		Invasion	Distant metastasis after surgery
No.	Metastasis	Sex	Agea	Tumor size (mm)b	Operation methodc	Pre-operation	Post-operation	c/ve	Period (month)	Location	Additional therapies
1	+	M	67	49	Lo	18.9	unknown	+/+	85	B	TT and RAT
2f	+	M	68	75	TT	>8000	4.2	+/+	51	L, B
3g	+	F	68	90	TT	>8000	130.0	+/+	36	L
4	+	M	15	86	Lo	6987.0	17.0	+/+	26	L	TT and RAT
5	+	F	51	60	TT	4067.0	11.4	+/+	40	L	RAT
6	+	F	50	19	Lo	46.6	8.1	+/−	36	L, B	TT and RAT
7	+	F	58	38	Lo	179.0	10.1	+/−	72	L, B	TT and RAT
8	+	F	47	23	Lo	640.0	6.4	+/+	98	B	TT and RAT
9	+	M	72	48	Lo	770.0	17.0	+/+	62	L	TT and RAT
10	+	F	57	90	TT	>8000	162.6	−/+	13	B	RAT
11	+	M	54	58	Lo	83.3	25.3	+/+	68	L	TT and RAT
12	+	F	47	45	TT	3870	<0.5	+/−	26	B	RAT
13	−	M	53	45	Lo	2118.0	13.3	+/−		na
14	−	F	49	45	Lo	814.0	<2.0	+/−		na
15	−	F	55	15	Lo	51.7	17.9	+/−		na
16	−	F	38	23	Lo	581.0	17.0	+/−		na
17	−	F	63	65	Lo	1269.0	51.3	+/−		na
18	−	F	64	46	Lo	2024.0	5.3	+/−		na
19	−	F	50	28	Lo	75.7	24.8	+/+		na
20	−	F	33	24	ST	399.0	<2.0	+/+		na
21	−	F	37	47	Lo	81.2	3.6	+/−		na
22	−	F	28	40	Lo	183.0	37.0	+/−		na
23	−	F	37	55	Lo	1049.0	9.6	+/+		na
24	−	F	47	57	Lo	1724.0	13.7	+/−		na
25	−	M	74	32	Lo	50.2	19.2	+/+		na
26	−	F	32	31	Lo	67.6	19.0	+/+		na
27	−	M	64	49	Lo	2153.4	20.6	+/−		na
28	−	M	35	30	Lo	401.1	10.0	+/−		na
29	−	F	29	40	Lo	1049.2	9.5	+/−		na
30	−	F	25	46	Lo	1051.9	7.0	+/−		na
31	−	M	38	44	TT	343.4	<0.5	+/−		na
32	−	F	23	33	Lo	78.6	10.8	+/−		na
33	−	F	50	77	TT	4640	4.1	+/−		na
34	−	M	29	78	Lo	178.4	23.1	+/−		na

F, female; M, male; TT, total thyroidectomy; ST, subtotal thyroidectomy; Lo, right or left thyroid lobectomy; Tg, thyroglobulin (normal range 2.0–35.0 ng/ml); c, capsular invasion; v, vascular invasion; L, lung; B, bone; RAT, radioiodine ablation therapy; na, not applicable.

^aAge, median 54.5 in M(+) and 43.3 in M(−) (range 15–74).

^bTumor size: median 56.8 and 43.2 (range 15–90).

^cTwenty-four of the 34 patients underwent thyroid lobectomy based on the standard operation method. Five of the 12 patients in the M(+) group underwent total thyroidectomy at the time of the initial operation because of high Tg values; thus, they did not require an additional operation for the purpose of radioiodine ablation therapy.

^dThyroglobulin (Tg) is used as a post-operative marker for the follow-up of patients with thyroid carcinoma. The Tg values were abnormal before the operation, but were reduced to within the normal range after the operation in almost all cases.

^eInvasion: +, present; -, absent.

^fCostectomy was performed at another hospital.

^gNo additional therapies had performed because of patients’ will.