Since 2016, NIFT-P has been reclassified as a low-risk tumor, the management of which is limited to surgical excision, with healing without recurrence in the majority of cases. The objective of our study was to illustrate the anatomoclinical aspects and the long-term follow-up of our patients operated on for NIFT-P.

Retrospective study including 15 patients diagnosed and treated for NIFT-P between 2017 and 2020 in our ENT department.

The average age of our patients was 48 years with a predominantly female (60%). The mean size of the palpated cervical mass was 2.5cm with extremes of 2-4.5cm. The initial clinical examination found cervical lymphadenopathy in 1 case. On ultrasound, the nodules were classified: EUTIRADS 4 (75%), EU-TIRADS 3 (22%) and EU-TIRADS 5 (3%). Fine needle aspiration was performed in 80% of patients. The results were: Bethesda II (30%), Bethesda V (43%), Bethesda III or IV (7%). Patients underwent lobectomy alone in 60% of cases, total thyroidectomy in one step in 40% and mediastino-recurrent dissection in 2 cases. The extemporaneous examination was in favor of benignity in 60% of cases, papillary carcinoma in 27%, and ARAP (wait for the definitive) in 13% of cases. Iratherapy was performed in 4 patients (a course of iodine 131). No recurrence was objectified either clinically, biologically or echographically over a mean follow-up of 3 years.

Our results agree with the data in the literature in terms of a favorable prognosis. NIFT-P is a cancer with a good prognosis. It is essential that clinicians and patients be aware of the extremely indolent behavior of NIFTP in order to avoid unnecessary and aggressive treatment.

© 2021 Ammar CB, at al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.