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. 2012 Nov;83(5):259-66.
doi: 10.4174/jkss.2012.83.5.259. Epub 2012 Oct 29.

Age and prognosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma: retrospective stratification into three groups

Jin Seong Cho  1 , Jung Han Yoon, Min Ho Park, Sun Hyoung Shin, Young Jong Jegal, Ji Shin Lee, Hee Kyung Kim
Affiliations

Age and prognosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma: retrospective stratification into three groups

Jin Seong Cho et al. J Korean Surg Soc. 2012 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the prognosis according to age in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 2,890 patients who underwent thyroidectomy due to PTC between May 2004 and Aug 2008. We divided patients into 3 groups: young (≤35 years old), middle (between 35 and 54 years old), and old (≥55 years old).

Results: Median age was 47.0 years old (range, 15 to 82 years). Within a follow-up period median of 50 months, there were 148 (5.1%) locoregional recurrences, 6 (0.2%) PTC-related deaths, and 18 (0.6%) PTC-unrelated deaths. Outcomes were more favorable in the young group, with no PTC-related death despite the frequent locoregional recurrence. In the old group compared to the middle, there was a higher proportion of male, and more aggressive types as T3 or N1b, higher mean tumor number, more multiplicity, and bilaterality. The old group of ≥55 years did not show a significant difference in PTC-related deaths than other age groups in Cox analysis (OR, 0.9; P = 0.677), but a significant cutoff age in PTC-related deaths at 62.5 years was determined in ROC analysis (area under curve = 0.912).

Conclusion: We showed that the ≤35 years group shows favorable prognosis despite the frequent locoregional recurrence and ≥62.5 years group shows a poor prognosis regardless of other factors such as male sex or tumor aggressiveness. Further multiinstitutional studies are needed to elucidate the prognosis according to patient's age.

Keywords: Age; Papillary thyroid carcinoma; Prognosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Age distribution of enrolled patients. (B) 148 (5.1%) locoregional recurrences. (C) 6 (0.2%) papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) related death.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier curves for locoregional recurrence (A) and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) related death (B) according to young, middle, and old age group (log rank test).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Area under the receiver (AUC) operating characteristic curve for Age on locoregional recurrence (A), papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) related death (B), and PTC unrelated death (C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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