Treatment Outcome of Patients with Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer: A Single Center Experience

• Published in: Yonsei medical journal Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 352 - 357
• Main Authors: Lim, Sun Min, Shin, Sang-Joon, Chung, Woong Youn, Park, Cheong Soo, Nam, Kee-Hyun, Kang, Sang-Wook, Keum, Ki Chang, Kim, Joo Hang, Cho, Jae Yong, Hong, Yun Kyoung, Cho, Byoung Chul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) Yonsei University College of Medicine 01.03.2012; 연세대학교의과대학
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Combined Modality Therapy; Disease-Free Survival; Doxorubicin - therapeutic use; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Original; Retrospective Studies; Thyroid Carcinoma, Anaplastic; Thyroid Neoplasms - drug therapy; Thyroid Neoplasms - mortality; Treatment Outcome; 의학일반
• ISSN: 0513-5796; 1976-2437; 1976-2437
• DOI: 10.3349/ymj.2012.53.2.352

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. 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. 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). 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.