Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma: Experience of a Single Institute

Ahn, Dongbin; Sohn, Jin Ho

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Although anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) accounts for less than 2% of all thyroid malignancies, it contributes to 14-50% of deaths related to thyroid tumors. However, there is no definite treatment. The aim of the study is to review our experience of ATC at our own university clinic to look for clues for the management of ATC.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
The medical record of 15 patients with ATC treated in our clinic between 1997 and 2010 were retrospectively reviewed.
RESULTS
Five (33.3%) patients underwent no curative treatment but biopsy or tracheostomy. Complete surgical resection was possible in only one patient. Six patients underwent debulking surgery with or without adjuvant treatment. One and two patients were treated with radiation therapy alone and concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT), respectively. Despite various treatment regimens, there are surviving patients at the time of present evaluation. The mean survival was 253.1 days and median survival was 128 days. Only two patients had survived longer than a year. Each patient had been treated with complete surgical resection and CCRT with doxorubicin, respectively. In univariate analysis, there was no association between survival duration and various clinico-pathological parameters. However, old age (> or =65), history of pre-existing thyroid nodule, and radiation therapy was significantly associated with survival duration in multivariate analysis.
CONCLUSION
Most ATC was unresponsive to ongoing treatment modalities in our clinic. However, we experienced that a certain treatment was effective in some patients. For the goal of forming a generally effective treatment regimen for ATC, we suggest a prospective multicenter study to be performed on the basis of present study.