Bimalka Seneviratne

ABSTRACT Thyroid cancer has shown an upward trend in most parts of the world during the last few decades. In Sri Lanka thyroid malignancy is the second most common cancer in females. Incidental thyroid cancer is an unexpected malignancy seen following thyroidectomy surgery. Aim of the study was to determine the frequency of incidental thyroid carcinoma in thyroidectomy specimens submitted for presumed benign pathological disease entities such as multinodular goiter, toxic nodular goiter, chronic thyroiditis and Grave’s disease and identify the associated risk factors for the development of malignancy. A retrospective study which included 92 cases of thyroidectomy specimens from 3 specialized surgical centers. The cases with a prior fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) diagnosis of malignancy or suspicious of malignancy were excluded from the current study. The frequency of incidental thyroid carcinoma was 9. 78 % (09 out of 92 cases). All the cases were confirmed histologically as papillary carcinoma (p < 0.05) and the majority were < 10 mm in diameter (microcarcinoma). Incidental thyroid carcinoma showed a statistically significant association with chronic thyroiditis (p < 0.05). With limited facilities for radiological evaluation and identification of suspicious nodules in the growing numbers of patients with multinodular goiters, the risk of missing incidental thyroid carcinoma especially microcarcinomas, will continue to lurch in the same manner. Keywords: Incidental thyroid carcinoma, thyroidectomy, multinodular goiter

Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) has become a major health issue of national interest in Sri Lanka. A significant number of patients with CKDu are from the north central province. Several research projects have been carried out to find out the etiology & risk factors of CKDu. The aim of our research was to assess the awareness of the disease among the people in the north central province of Sri Lanka. These findings will be important when formulating preventive measures. A descriptive cross sectional study conducted in the north central province of Sri Lanka. The sample size was 240. The data was collected from an interviewer administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive data was presented as numbers and percentages and the differences between categories were checked with the chi-squared test. Out of 242 participants, 56.6% had poor level of knowledge regarding CKDu while 43.4% had good level of knowledge. Majority of the participants (60.3%) were following good practices to prevent the disease while the remaining 39.7% were not concerned about good practice methods. Attitudes were poor in 48.3% of the participants and satisfactory in the remaining 51.7%. Level of knowledge, attitudes and practices further varied according to the sociodemographic factors. The level of knowledge and attitudes regarding CKDu was not satisfactory since the majority of the participants were below the average standard. The safe practices and preventive measures taken by the participants were comparatively satisfactory since the majority had a good level of safe practicing to prevent the disease.