Treatment of thyroid cancer in 293 patients

Two hundred and ninety-three patients with thyroid cancer were treated at The Royal Marsden Hospital, London, between 1931 and 1963. Thirty-six per cent of the tumours were papillary, 21 per cent follicular, 1 per cent medullary and 42 per cent anaplastic. Surgery combined with radiotherapy formed the commonest treatment regime. Thirty-six per cent of the patients with papillary carcinoma survived for 20 years, 20 per cent with follicular tumour and 4 per cent with anaplastic carcinoma. The present series indicates that treatment influences the survival time, confirms the prognostic value of histology and age and shows that papillary node metastases do not prejudice survival.