Abstract
Sixty one patients of follicular carcinoma (FCA) of the thyroid in 725 thyroid malignancies were pathologically reviewed. The criterion of FCA was set as the penetration of the tumor capusule or the vascular invasion without any sign of papillary carcinoma (PCA). Twenty four patients, which was 3.3 percent of the thyroid malignancies, remained as FCA. The cervical lymph node metastasis was noted in 3 patients, while the distant metastasis to the bone in 2 cases. On the contrary, the follicular variant (FV) of PCA was found in 9 patients which proportionates 1.4 percent of PCA. Of those patients with FV, 6 revealed to have metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes.
