A rare case of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma in a young woman with prolonged survival

Abstract

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive tumors in human medicine. Despite the multimodal therapy, the average survival of patients is just several months. Fortunately, it is an extremely rare tumor. Most frequently, ATC occurs in the elderly, with the average age of the patients being almost 70 years. It is extremely rare that ATC occurs in people under the age of 40. We report a case of a 33 year old woman with ATC, with the diameter of the tumor being 8x7cm, confirmed by histopathology and imunohistochemistry. In January 2001, a total thyroidectomy was performed, and the tumor was completely resected. Postoperatively, the patient received radiation therapy. Ten years after the surgery, on regular check-ups, the patient is still living and there is no evidence of a recurrent tumor or metastases. This case is instructive for two reasons, as it shows that ATC can occur in younger people and that there is a possibility of long term survival.