Multimodality therapeutic outcomes In anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: Improved survival in subgroups of patients with localized primary tumors

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of a multimodality treatment for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). METHODS: Clinical data of 40 consecutive patients treated between 1985 and 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The median survival time (MST) stratified by clinical stage was 6.0 months for stage IVB and 4.2 months for stage IVC. When the stage IVB patients were classified into 2 groups (IVB-a and IVB-b) in accord with the extent of involvement of the tumor, the MST of the patients with IVB-a (9.6 months) was significantly longer than that of patients with IVB-b (4.0 months) (p < .05). The MST of the patients treated with surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy (13.7 months) tended to be longer compared with the patients treated with 2 or fewer modalities. CONCLUSION: The patients with a less-invasive primary tumor may gain a survival benefit from aggressive multimodality therapeutic approaches.