Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland. A tumor of moderate malignancy

Hurthle cell carcinoma is a rare thyroid cancer histologically related to the well-differentiated malignancies of the thyroid gland. This report presents the evaluation of 30 years experience in treating 17 patients (out of 549 thyroid cancer patients) with Hurthle cell carcinoma. All 17 patients were treated surgically. Six patients (35.3%) died of their thyroid disease. Survival rates for 10 and 15 years were 63.7% and 25%, respectively. These rates are above those of high-grade malignancies and below those of low-grade malignancies of the thyroid gland. Nonsurgical treatment, including radioactive iodine therapy, is disappointing; thus, initial radical surgery is recommended as the treatment of choice.