[Papillary thyroid cancer--prognosis and prognostic factors]

90 papillary thyroid carcinomas (operated on between 1952 and 1977) were retrospectively analysed. The median follow-up is 5.29 years (range 0.08-29.42 years). After the primary operation only 68.9% of all patients may be classified as "tumor free". The lethality rate from thyroid cancer is 28.9%, the cumulative survival rates at 10 and 20 years are 50.92% and 32.06%, respectively. Thus survival is not significantly different from the one of our follicular carcinomas. The whole material was characterized thoroughly by clinical and morphological parameters. The simultaneous examination of the variables as to their prognostic relevance was performed by means of a log-logistic regression model for survival data. Age, extension of primary tumor, vascular invasion and presence of colloid determined prognosis. For the histopathological practice a differentiation between vascular and lymphatic invasion is demanded.