Real-world clinical profile, treatment patterns and patient-reported outcomes for thyroid cancer in Japan

Aim: To provide a real-world snapshot of the clinical profile, management, and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) for advanced medullary and papillary thyroid cancer prior to the availability of rearranged during transfection (RET) inhibitors in Japan. Materials & methods: Physicians completed patient-record forms for eligible patients seen during routine clinical practice. Physicians were also surveyed about their routine practice and patients were asked to provide PRO data. Results: RET testing patterns varied by hospital type; no therapeutic relevance was a commonly cited reason to not carry out testing. Multikinase inhibitors were the main systemic therapies prescribed, although timing to start multikinase inhibitors varied; adverse events were reported as challenges. PROs revealed high disease/treatment burden. Conclusion: More effective and less toxic systemic treatment targeting genomic alterations is needed to improve long-term outcomes of thyroid cancer.