The Clinical Study Of 12 Patients With Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer And Review Of The Litereture

Background and objective:Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer(ATC)is a rare but lethal disease with a poor prognosis.Currently available treatments,beyond surgery,for example radiotherapy and chemotherapy may provide limited palliation and possibly prolong patient survival to a minimal degree.This study was designed to discuss the clinical and prognosis of this disease.Methods:we collected clinical date of 12 patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer,including general history,medical history,therapeutic history and outcome.All the patients were retrospectively analysised in the First Affiliated Hospital,Zhejiang University School of Medicine from July 1997 to January 2009.Then we reviewed the related literature.Results:In the 12 patients aged from 31 to 78,5 were male and 7 were female.The median age was 658 years.Initially,9 patients complained neck mass without pain,2 patients complained neck mass with pain,and the other one present hoarseness.Two of them have the symptom of dysphagia,one complaim weight loss,one with numbness of left fingers.Two of them the tumor is intrathyroidal when they diagnosed,9 of them were extrathyroidal,the last one has tumor metabasis to cervicales.Five of the patients have local lymph nodes when diagnosed.The mediaan diameter of these tumors was 52.5.5cmm.11 of the patients received surgical intervenrion,histological examinations confirmed the diagnosis.Follow-up for 30 months on average showed that 8 patients died of tumor recurrence and the rest were alive.Conclusions:ATC is the most aggressive thyroid cancer.Most patients have nearly always spread systemically by the time of diagnosis or shortly thereafter.If the tumor is small and intrathyroidal,the patient can be cured by surgery.Once the tumor is extrathyroidal the disease is typically lethal,Many treatments beyond surgery such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy should be taken.