Long-term results of radiotherapy in anaplastic thyroid cancer

Radiation Oncology

Dirk Vordermark¹  Tanja Pelz¹  Anne-Katrin Dumke¹ 

[1] Department of Radiation Oncology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Dryanderstr. 4, 06110 Halle (Saale), Germany

关键词: Long-term survival;    Prognostic factors;    Multimodal therapy;    Radiotherapy;    Undifferentiated thyroid cancer (UTC);    Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC);   

Others  :  810373
DOI  :  10.1186/1748-717X-9-90

 received in 2013-08-03, accepted in 2014-03-16,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is an aggressive malignant tumour with a poor prognosis. The median overall survival is described in the literature to be just 6 months, however, in series of selected patients treated by multimodal therapy cases of long-time-survival have been reported. We analyzed the role of radiotherapy and the impact of other therapies and clinical features on survival in patients with ATC.

Methods

In a retrospective analysis of all patients (n = 40), who presented with histologically proven ATC at a single centre between 1989 and 2008, patient and treatment characteristics with a focus on details of radiotherapy were registered and the survival status determined.

Results

39 of 40 patients received radiotherapy, 80% underwent surgery and 15% had chemotherapy. The median dosis of radiation was 50 Gy (6–60.4 Gy), in 87.5% fractionation was once daily. In 49.4% opposing-field techniques were applied, in 14% 3D-conformal-techniques and 32.5% combinations of both.

The median overall survival (OS) was 5 months, 1-year survival 35.2% and 5-year-survival 21.6%. Interestingly, 24.3% survived 2 years or longer. Three factors could be identified as predictors of improved overall survival: absence of lymph node metastasis (N0) (median OS 18.3 months), median dose of radiation of 50 Gy or more (median OS 10.5 months) and the use of any surgery (median OS 10.5 months).

Conclusions

Despite the generally poor outcome, the combination of surgery and intensive radiotherapy can result in long-term survival in selected patients with ATC.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Dumke et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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