title: Prognosis and growth activity depend on patient age in clinical and subclinical papillary thyroid carcinoma.
abstract: In this review, we focused on the patient age as an indicator of tumor growth and prognostic significance in both clinical papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and subclinical papillary microcarcinoma (PMC: PTC ≤ 1 cm). In clinical PTC, young age (< 30 years) and old age (≥ 60 years) significantly affected the disease-free survival of patients, and old age was a strong predictor of carcinoma death. In contrast, in subclinical PMC, growth activity significantly decreased with patient age, and young age (< 40 years) was an independent predictor of carcinoma growth, indicating that old patients with subclinical PMC are the best candidates for observation without immediate surgery. Taken together, our findings indicate that the role of patients' age as an indicator of tumor growth differs significantly between clinical PTC and subclinical PMC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kuma Hospital, Kobe 650-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miya
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000378:metabolism; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D013965:Thyroidectomy
chemical_list: D013954:Thyroglobulin