Abstract
In this paper a follow-up study of 284 surgical patients with differentiated thyroid cancer is described. These cases included 33 of microcarcinoma concurring with other benign tyroid diseases, and 27 of advanced thyroid cancer including distant metastases and/or unresectable local invasion. Postoperative recurrence was found in 15 out of patients who underwent standard resection with ipsilateral modified neck dissection, while in only 2 out of 82 who underwent tumor resection alone. No recurrence was demonstrated in the cases of microcarcinoma. The metastases in the cervical lymph nodes were treated by local excision with a favorable prognosis. Radioiodine therapy, external radiation or chemotherapy with anti-cancer drugs was performed in 32 cases of advanced cancer. However, these conservative forms of treatment were unsuccessful except for one case with diffuse pulmonary metastases. Cauterization therapy using an Nd-YAG laser for tracheal invasions improved the quality of life of the patients. The ten-year maximum survival rate with the direct method was 0.90, and the 10-year cumulative survival rate with the Kaplan-Meier method was 0.94.
