Pediatric Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Our Experience.

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology
• Pediatric Oncology
• Surgical Oncology

Background:

• Thyroid cancer in children and adolescents presents unique management challenges.
• Data on pediatric differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) outcomes in regional cancer centers is valuable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the experience of managing pediatric DTC at a tertiary referral hospital.
• To compare these findings with existing literature on pediatric thyroid cancer.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective analysis of DTC patients under 18 years old treated between January 2014 and August 2018.
• Extracted data included demographics, treatment protocols (total thyroidectomy and radioiodine therapy), and follow-up outcomes.

Main Results:

• Twelve pediatric patients (4% of total DTC cases) were identified, with a female predominance (5:1) and an average age of 13.1 years.
• All patients underwent total thyroidectomy and postoperative radioactive iodine (¹³¹I) therapy.
• Eleven patients (91.6%) achieved complete remission after a median follow-up of 1.75 years; one patient had persistent disease.

Conclusions:

• Pediatric DTC, though potentially aggressive, demonstrates favorable outcomes with appropriate management.
• The study reports satisfactory results comparable to international literature.
• Further research is warranted to assess long-term radioiodine therapy complications in pediatric populations.