title: Does surgery improve the survival of patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma?
abstract: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma is one of the most lethal neoplasms, with poor prognosis being reported by most authors. The benefits of surgery for most cases of advanced disease remain controversial. In this study we asked the following question: Does surgical intervention alter outcomes for patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma? Forty-six patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma were analyzed. There were 20 patients with advanced localized disease (group 1), 15 of whom received surgery. Of the other 26 patients with evidence of distant metastases (group 2), 13 received surgery. For group 1 patients, the mean survival was 12.8 months versus 8.6 months in the surgical and nonsurgical subgroups (p = 0.46). For group 2 patients, the mean survival was 3.5 months versus 2.8 months in the surgical and nonsurgical subgroups (p = 0.72). These data suggest that surgery does not improve survival for patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. In conclusion, the mean survival showed no significant differences between surgical and nonsurgical patients (p = 0.43). This study suggests that surgical resection does not improve the survival of patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Medical College and Memorial Hospital, Kweishen County, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Chao
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome