[Chemotherapy of highly malignant thyroid tumors]

In a prospective phase II study 15 patients suffering from anaplastic thyroid carcinoma or thyroid sarcoma were treated by surgery and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy varied according to age of the patient and histological subtype of the tumour. The following regimen was used: 100 mg/m2 BSA CDDP, 20 mg/m2 mitoxantrone and 1.5 mg/m2 vincristine. 10 patients responded to chemotherapy, 4 of whom had a complete response. Responders showed a longer mean and median survival time (20.8 months versus 4.5 ms, 15.5 ms vs. 3.8 ms, respectively) than non-responders. In the group responding to chemotherapy no evidence of metachronous metastases was found. Local recurrence was absent only in the patients showing a complete response. Anaplastic carcinomas with areas of differentiated thyroid carcinoma and small cell carcinomas (after exclusion of malignant lymphoma of the thyroid) showed a higher response rate to chemotherapy than spindle or giant cell carcinoma or thyroid sarcoma.