Malignant thyroid tumours 1932 to 1972: the outcome in 492 patients

We report on 492 patients treated for thyroid cancer at the Royal Marsden Hospital between 1932 and 1972: 380 of the patients are now dead. Eighty-three per cent (n = 410) are tumours of follicular cell origin. We found the crude 20-year probability of survival to be 54% in papillary carcinoma, 29% in follicular carcinoma and 1% in anaplastic carcinoma. Considering solely cancer deaths, the survival in papillary cases was 68%. Age, histology (tumour type), extent of primary tumour (T stage), haematogenous metastases (M1 stage) and, to a lesser extent, sex exercised a significant influence on survival. We support the use of these five factors to produce a prognostic index for estimating the level of risk for tumours of follicular cell origin. We add our experience in the non-follicular cell tumours of medullary carcinoma (3%), lymphoma (7%) and fibrosarcoma (1%).