[Locally invasive papillary thyroid cancer--our experience]

Differentiated thyroid carcinomas, particularly papillary carcinoma, are the tumors with good prognosis, but sometimes have a tendency to spread into the surrounding tissue. The spread of these tumors usually involves muscle, cartilage and upper aerodigestive tract. During two years (2008-2009) at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Center Zagreb, 233 patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma were treated. Among them there were 23 cases of locally invasive papillary thyroid carcinoma. In this paper we present our experience in treating 23 patients with locally invasive papillary thyroid carcinoma with special reference to extrathyroid spread, surgery and postoperative treatment. Our recommendations for the treatment of such patients are total thyroidectomy and selective neck dissection, removal of macroscopically visible tumors, radical surgery for tumors with intraluminal expansion in the upper aerodigestive tract and postoperative adjuvant therapy.