[Differentiated thyroid carcinoma: survival and prognostic factors]

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is the most common endocrine tumor. DTC has a good prognosis and survival rates higher than 85%. The aim of our study was to assess our current survival rate and to analyze prognostic factors.

A retrospective analysis was conducted of 308 patients with DTC (93.5% with papillary tumors, 78.8% women). Mean age at diagnosis was 45.4±15.8years, and mean follow-up time was 8.9±6.8years. The whole group was treated and followed up using the same protocol at our hospital. The following data were collected: age at diagnosis, sex, histology, TNM stage, treatments, and date and cause of death. Survival probability was calculated using Kaplan-Meier analyses. Prognostic factors were analyzed using a univariate log rank test and a multivariate Cox regression analysis model.

Twenty-six patients died during follow-up, 15 of them (4.9%) from DTC. Thyroid carcinoma-related survival was 92.7% for the whole group. In multivariate analyses, the following parameters were associated to a significantly increased risk of death from DTC: presence of distant metastases, follicular histology, age at diagnosis older than 60years, and extrathyroid invasion.

Our survival rate is similar to that reported in literature. Assessment of prognostic factors related to an increased risk of death in our patient group, is essential to establish active therapeutic approaches in high risk patients.