Abstract
Ten cases (5 males and 5 females) of anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid treated at Hyogo Cancer Center between February 1994 and October 2006 were reviewed. Patient ages ranged from 47 to 84 years with a median of 65.5 years. Only one case is alive after 12 years and 8 months;8 cases died of the disease and one died of a different disease. The 8 cases who died from the carcinoma consisted of 4 cases of suffocation by primary tumor invasion and 4 cases of distant metastasis. All 9 cases died within one year after their treatment.
The 6 cases were treated by surgery with postoperative radiotherapy and the 2 cases of them underwent chemotherapy. The local tumor was resected radically in the 3 cases and was not resected radically but debulked in the 3 cases. Only 1 long-time survivor whose preoperative pathological diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma was treated by induction chemotherapy, radical operation with pharyngolaryngoesophagectomy, and postoperative radiotherapy. Half of the 6 surgical cases died of suffocation. The 4 non-surgical cases were treated by combination therapy with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The 3 cases of the 4 non-surgical cases died of distant metastasis.
The rate of life at home during survival time was higher in the cases treated surgically than in the non-surgery cases. The possibility is suggested that the rate of life at home during survival time was higher with surgical treatment even the debulking operation and the improvement of QOL was achieved. But the debulking operation was not more effective for the improvement of the survival time and the local control, compared with the cases treated without surgery.
