DOES SURGERY IMPROVE THE SURVIVAL OF PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED ANAPLASTIC THYROID-CARCINOMA

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma is one of the most lethal neoplasms, with poor prognosis being reported by most authors, The benefits of surger y for most cases of advanced disease remain controversial. In this stu dy we asked the following question: Does surgical intervention alter o utcomes for patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma? Forty -six patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma were analyzed . There were 20 patients with advanced localized disease (group 1), 15 of whom received surgery. Of the other 26 patients with evidence of d istant metastases (group 2), 13 received surgery. For group 1 patients , the mean survival was 12.8 months versus 8.6 months in the surgical and nonsurgical subgroups (p = 0.46). For group 2 patients, the mean s urvival was 3.5 months versus 2.8 months in the surgical and nonsurgic al subgroups (p = 0.72). These data suggest that surgery does not impr ove survival for patients with advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. In conclusion, the mean survival showed no significant differences bet ween surgical and nonsurgical patients (p = 0.43). This study suggests that surgical resection does not improve the survival of patients wit h advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.