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Updated: Aug 24, 2026
Spontaneous Murine Model of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer
Published on: February 3, 2023
Prognostic factors of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma
Minoru Kihara1, Akira Miyauchi, Akira Yamauchi
1Second Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Kagawa University, 1750-1 Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
Purpose:
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a relatively rare but very aggressive malignancy, which usually results in death a few months after diagnosis. However, some patients survive for a long time, and the purpose of this study was to identify the prognostic factors of ATC.
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed the records of 19 patients diagnosed with ATC in our institution between 1984 and 2002.
Results:
The median survival was 9.4 months, with a range of 0.6-76.3 months, and the 1-, 2-, and 5-year survival rates were 21%, 11%, and 5%, respectively. The mean tumor size was 5.7 cm, with a range of 3.6-10.5 cm, and complete resection was achieved in 4 patients. The prognostic factors according to univariate analysis were complete resection and small tumor size of less than 5 cm ( P = 0.005 and 0.047). However, according to multivariate analysis, complete resection was the only prognostic factor for ATC ( P = 0.015). No association was found between survival and acute symptoms, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, extrathyroidal invasion, distant metastasis, age, or leukocytosis.
Conclusion:
At present, while there is no successful treatment regimen for ATC, only patients who undergo complete resection at a very early stage have any chance of long-term survival.
