Descriptive Study of Thyroid Carcinomas in the Wilaya of Oran

In Algeria information on CT characteristics is derived from hospital series. Using data collected in the general population we described the demographic and clinicopathological characteristics of patients diagnosed between 1993 and 2013. 1248 women (86.5% mean age 43.7 ± 15.2 years) and 195 men (23.4% mean age 48.1 ± 15.9 years) were diagnosed with CT. 83.1% were women and 69.8% were men. The most frequent histological types were papillary (58.3%) follicular (29.7%) anaplastic (4.1%) and medullary (0.8%). Over 21 years the incidence of papillary carcinomas increased significantly (p<0.001) while that of other histological types fell. Tumor size decreased significantly (p<0.001). The frequency of CTs with capsular effractions and vascular emboli also decreased. Changes in medical practices could explain at least in part the changes observed. However the increase in the papillary/follicular ratio may be linked to the table salt iodization program introduced in Algeria in the early 1990s.