Clinical Analysis of Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma

Kim, Hyun Young; Chung, Ki Wook; Kim, Hwal Woong; Youn, Yeo Kyu; Oh, Seung Kun

Abstract

PURPOSE: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma is characterized by a rapid growing mass of the neck and an early infiltration into the surrounding tissue. Because of its mature expression in elderly patients who have a poor general physical condition, a difficulty in diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment, it is one of the most lethal cancers that occur in human. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathologic character of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma and analyze the prognostic factors affecting the survival rate.
METHODS
The history of twenty patients who were diagnosed as having anaplastic thyroid carcinoma at Seoul National University Hospital between 1985 and 1999 were reviewed retrospectively.
RESULTS
The most common symptom was a rapidly enlarging neck mass. Ten (55.5%) of 18 patients had concomitant well differentiated thyroid carcinomas and 5 (27.8%) patients had benign thyroid disease on the basis of the presenting pathologic features. The median survival time was 5.5 months and the 2-year survival rate was 27.3%. Among several factors that were analyzed, a tumor size smaller than 5 cm (p<0.001), the absence of distant metastases at presentation (p=0.020), patients that were selected for curative surgical resection (p=0.002), and postoperative radiotherapy (p=0.003) were associated with prolonged survival time.
CONCLUSION
In the selected patients (tumor size<5 cm, the absence of distant metastases at presentation, young age (<55)), curative surgical resection and adjuvant radiotherapy may result in an increased survival time.