Abstract
Background: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is one of the most aggressive human malignancies with a mean survival time of 6 months regardless of treatment. Aim: To present a case of locally advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma with long-term survival. A 10-year literature review of locally advanced ATC with long-term survival (more than 2 years) is also presented. Case presentation: We present a case of locally advanced anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) with tracheal invasion in a 67-year-old elderly Chinese man who was treated with radical surgery encompassing total thyroidectomy, neck dissection and tracheal resection followed by adjuvant radiotherapy. Long-term disease-free survival is more than 7 years to date. Conclusion: The prognosis of ATC remains poor as it is characterized by aggressive and extensive disease at presentation, the inability in most patients to perform radical enough surgery in order to achieve clear margins, high morbidity of complete extirpation and limited response to radiotherapy or chemotherapy. However, if complete surgical resection is possible, patients should be treated aggressively with a combination of surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy.
Highlights
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) accounts for about 2% of all thyroid carcinomas and is one of the most aggressive human malignancies [1]-[4]
We present a case of locally advanced ATC with trachea invasion in an elderly male that was treated with radical surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy with long-term disease-free survival of more than 7 years
Based on the American Thyroid Guidelines on ATC published in 2012 [14], in patients with extra-thyroidal invasion, an en bloc resection should be considered if grossly negative margins (R1 resection) could be achieved
Summary
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) accounts for about 2% of all thyroid carcinomas and is one of the most aggressive human malignancies [1]-[4]. Peak incidence is usually more than 60 years of age and it occurs more commonly in females than males. Patients usually present with symptoms of extensive local invasion such as pain, dysphagia, hoarseness, respiratory distress and a rapidly enlarging neck mass. We present a case of locally advanced ATC with trachea invasion in an elderly male that was treated with radical surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy with long-term disease-free survival of more than 7 years. A 10-year literature review of locally advanced ATC with long-term survival (more than 2 years) is presented
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