Epidemiology, clinical presentation, treatment and prognosis of a regional series of 26 anaplastic thyroid carcinomas (ATC). Comparison with the literature

Abstract

The aim of this study is to retrospectively describe the epidemiological and clinical features, therapeutic modalities, prognostic factors and survival figures in a population of patients with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) observed in Auvergne, France. We compared these data with those in the literature. The analysis was conducted based on a computer database containing a regional register recorded by health professionals treating ATC. Of the 1500 cancers observed over 16 years, 26 were identified as ATC. The male/female ratio was 1/2.7 and the average age: 72.1; 76.9% of the cases had thyroid medical history, average tumor size at diagnosis was 7.35 cm with N1 in the course of illness in 61.5% of cases, M1 in 34.6% of cases. Surgery was performed in 84.6% of cases, radiotherapy in 53.8% and chemotherapy in 19.2%. The average survival was 9 months, the survival median: 4 months. Our results show that, in univariate analysis, age above 75, capsular invasion, lymph nodes metastasis, tumor residue after surgery and lack of multimodal treatment (particularly radiotherapy in patients without tumor residue) are factors of poor prognosis. In a multivariate analysis only age above 75, followed by node invasion, capsular invasion, and finally female gender are factors of poor prognosis. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.