Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma in Denmark 1996-2012: A national prospective study of 219 patients.
BACKGROUND
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is the least common but most malignant thyroid cancer. We aimed to examine the characteristics as well as evaluate the incidence, prognostic factors, and if introduction of a fast track cancer program might influence survival in a cohort of ATC patients.


METHODS
A cohort study based on prospective data from the national Danish thyroid cancer database DATHYRCA and the national Danish Pathology Register including 219 patients diagnosed from 1996 to 2012, whom were followed until death or through September 2014.


RESULTS
We found the median age in the 7th decade, the majority of patients being women presenting with a growing mass at the neck, diagnosed with stage T4b disease. At diagnosis, 56% of the patients had lymph node metastasis and 38% distant metastasis. We observed one- and five-year survival of 20.7% and 11.0%, respectively. Both univariate and multivariate analyses showed age (above 73.6 years), respiratory impairment, T4b stage, and distant metastasis at diagnosis to be significant prognostic factors. Further, introduction of a national fast track cancer program increased survival nearly two-fold.


CONCLUSION
As new information, our study adds "respiratory impairment at diagnosis" and "introduction of a national fast track cancer program" to the list of already established prognostic indicators for ATC.
['Hvilsom|Gitte Bjørn|GB|', 'Londero|Stefano Christian|SC|', 'Hahn|Christoffer Holst|CH|', 'Schytte|Sten|S|', 'Pedersen|Henrik Baymler|HB|', 'Christiansen|Peer|P|', 'Kiss|Katalin|K|', 'Larsen|Stine Rosenkilde|SR|', 'Jespersen|Marie Louise|ML|', 'Lelkaitis|Giedrius|G|', 'Godballe|Christian|C|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D015331:Cohort Studies D016208:Databases, Factual D003718:Denmark D005260:Female D006801:Humans D015994:Incidence D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D015999:Multivariate Analysis D011379:Prognosis D011446:Prospective Studies D065646:Thyroid Carcinoma, Anaplastic D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma Prospective study Fast track cancer programs Survival Clinical outcome Thyroid epidemiology