Clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of Hurthle cell carcinoma: a population based study

Thyroid Hurthle cell carcinoma (HCC) is a rare disease with high risk of invasion and metastasis and poor prognosis. The clinical characteristics, prognosis and treatment of HCC are still controversial, and clinical data are still limited to some case reports. Therefore, understanding the characteristics and survival factors of HCC is clinically necessary.

This study collected data from HCC patients diagnosed pathologically from 2004 to 2015, including basic population characteristics, tumor characteristics, and epidemiological and survival data. The data were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to conduct a population cohort study.

A total of 2101 HCC patients with an average age of 55.42 ± 15.27 years were enrolled in this study. Of them, 1740 (82.82%) patients had local disease, 245 (11.66%) had regional disease, and 89 (4.24%) had distant disease. Total thyroidectomy was performed in 1669 (79.44%) patients, partial thyroidectomy was performed in 382 (18.18%) patients, and radioactive iodine (RAI) was used in 1155 (54.97%) patients. The 5-year and 10-year cancer-specific survival rate was 95.4 and 92.6%, respectively. The distant disease group had significantly more male patients, multifocal tumors, and extensive tumors compared to the local disease group. Multivariate survival analysis showed that age (P < 0.05), SEER stage (P < 0.001), and T-stage (P = 0.001) had significant effects on survival. There was no significant difference in survival between total and partial thyroidectomy (P = 0.078), or between RAI and non-RAI (P = 0.733).

Male gender, multifocal tumors, and extended tumors are associated with increased risk of late stage HCC. Age over 45 years, distant SEER stage, and late T-stage are independent risk factors for mortality in HCC.