Well-Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: The Philippine General Hospital Experience

Well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC) is the most common form of thyroid malignancy. While it is typically associated with good prognosis, it may exhibit higher recurrence and mortality rates in selected groups, particularly Filipinos. This paper aims to describe the experience of a Philippine Hospital in managing patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

We performed a retrospective cohort study of 723 patients with WDTC (649 papillary and 79 follicular), evaluating the clinicopathologic profiles, ultrasound features, management received, tumor recurrence, and eventual outcome over a mean follow-up period of 5 years.

The mean age at diagnosis was 44±13 years (range, 18 to 82), with a majority of cases occurring in the younger age group (<45 years). Most tumors were between 2 and 4 cm in size. The majority of papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs, 63.2%) and follicular thyroid cancers (FTCs, 54.4%) initially presented as stage 1, with a greater proportion of FTC cases (12.7% vs. 3.7%) presenting with distant metastases. Nodal metastases at presentation were more frequent among patients with PTC (29.9% vs. 7.6%). A majority of cases were treated by complete thyroidectomy, followed by radioactive iodine therapy and thyroid stimulating hormone suppression, resulting in a disease-free state. Excluding patients with distant metastases at presentation, the recurrence rates for papillary and FTC were 30.1% and 18.8%, respectively.

Overall, PTC among Filipinos was associated with a more aggressive and recurrent behavior. FTC among Filipinos appeared to behave similarly with other racial groups.