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Papillary thyroid carcinoma: prognostic index for survival including the histological variety
S O Sebastian1, J M Gonzalez, P P Paricio
1Department of Surgery, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca (Murcia), El Palmar, Spain.
Background:
Numerous prognostic factors have been studied for survival in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), although there are few multivariate studies that include the histological variety of PTC.
Hypothesis:
There are prognostic factors that influence survival in a series of patients with PTC, including the histological variety, and a new prognostic index (PI) for survival can be formulated by accounting for these factors.
Design:
A retrospective study.
Setting:
A university hospital department of surgery.
Patients:
Between January 1970 and December 1995, 200 patients undergoing surgery for PTC were observed (mean follow-up, 8 years).
Main Outcome Measures:
A univariate analysis was done for survival rates using the Kaplan-Meier estimation method. The possible prognostic factors were evaluated using a multivariate analysis according to the Cox model. We formulated a PI and defined 3 risk groups (low, medium, and high) for mortality.
Results:
Of the 200 patients, 175 (87.5%) are still alive. Of the 25 deaths, 19 (9.5%) were due to the tumor. The survival was 97.5% at 1 year, 92.8% at 5, 89.5% at 10, and 83.9% at 15 and 20 years. The prognostic factors obtained after the multivariate analysis were age, tumor size, extrathyroid spread, and histological variant of the PTC. The PI is calculated as follows: PI = (2 x size) + (6 x spread) + (2 x variant) + (3 x age). As for the risk groups, the low-risk group showed a mortality of 0%; the medium-risk group, 17.1%; and the high-risk group, 76.5%.
Conclusions:
The histological variety of PTC has prognostic value for survival in patients with PTC. As risk factors for PTC mortality, we consider an age of 50 years or older, a tumor larger than 4 cm, the existence of extrathyroid spread, and a certain histological subtype of PTC. With these risk factors, it is possible to formulate a PI and classify patients into low-, medium-, and high-risk groups for mortality.