[Clinical studies on pulmonary metastases from differentiated thyroid carcinoma--characteristics of patients with pulmonary metastases which appear before thyroid operation or afterward].
At Ito Hospital we have experienced 70 primary cases of differentiated thyroid carcinoma with pulmonary metastasis during the last 32 years. These patients were divided into two groups; patients who presented with the metastasis before thyroid operation (M-1 cases) and afterward (M-O cases). Contrary to our expectation, the over-all survival rate was more favorable in M-1 cases. We therefore studied on the clinical characteristics of these patients to see if there may be any differences between the two groups. The over-all survival rate of M-1 and M-0 cases was 85.7% and 42.9%, respectively. This difference was statistically significant (p less than 0.001). In M-1 cases percentage of male patients was higher, mean age was lower, papillo-follicular carcinoma was more predominant, and the outcome of RI therapy was more favorable. There were no significant differences on the roentgenographical type of metastatic foci and on the intraoperative findings between the two groups. From these results it is suggested that differentiated thyroid carcinoma with pulmonary metastasis in younger patients may be pathogenetically different from those in the older, and that biological characteristics of the disease that shows pulmonary metastasis in early stage differ from that which shows later.
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*