Thyroid cancer in Kuwait: review of 117 cases

One hundred and seventeen patients with thyroid cancer were seen at the Radiotherapy and Isotope Centre, Al-Sabah Hospital, Kuwait, between 1963 and 1974. Thyroid cancer constituted 4.7 per cent of all cancer cases among females and 2.4 per cent among males. Of these carcinomas, 58 per cent were papillary, 25 per cent follicular, 11 per cent anaplastic and 1.7 per cent medullary. Four cases (3.4 per cent) were of malignant lymphoma. The 10-year survival was 74, 96 and 21 per cent for papillary, follicular and anaplastic tumours respectively. The present series confirms the prognostic value of age, sex and histology and shows that node metastasis does not prejudice survival. The study does not show any correlation between the type of operation and survival.