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. 2012 Mar;53(2):352-7.
doi: 10.3349/ymj.2012.53.2.352.

Treatment outcome of patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer: a single center experience

Sun Min Lim  1 , Sang-Joon Shin, Woong Youn Chung, Cheong Soo Park, Kee-Hyun Nam, Sang-Wook Kang, Ki Chang Keum, Joo Hang Kim, Jae Yong Cho, Yun Kyoung Hong, Byoung Chul Cho
Affiliations

Treatment outcome of patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer: a single center experience

Sun Min Lim et al. Yonsei Med J. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: Anaplastic thyroid cancer is known to have a poor prognosis due to its aggressive and rapid metastasis with median survival of less than 6 months. Multimodal treatment involving surgery and chemoradiotherapy has been used to improve the survival of patients. Here, we retrospectively review of treatment outcome of 13 consecutive patients who were treated at a single center.

Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 13 anaplastic thyroid cancer patients who received multidisciplinary treatment between 2006 and 2010. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze progression-free survival and overall survival of patients.

Results: The median patient age at diagnosis was 69 years, and six patients had stage IVc diseases. Eight patients received primary surgery followed by radiotherapy or concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Five patients received weekly doxorubicin-based definitive CCRT, but only one patient's condition remained stable, while the rest experienced rapid disease progression. The median progression-free survival was 2.8 months (95% CI, 1.2-4.4 months), and the median overall survival was 3.8 months (95% CI, 3.0-4.6 months).

Conclusion: Patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer showed poor prognosis despite multimodality treatment. Therefore, identification of novel therapeutic targets is warranted to take an effective mode of treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no financial conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Overall survival (black line) and progression-free survival (dotted line) in patients with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. OS, overall surrival; PFS, progression-free survival.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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