Papillary Thyroid Cancer Prognosis

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Papillary Thyroid Cancer Prognosis
According to a study reported on in the May, 2010 issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, papillary thyroid cancer that has not spread outside the thyroid gland has a generally favorable outcome for patients, whether or not they receive treatment within a year of diagnosis.

According to the study author, "...nearly every thyroid gland might be found to have a cancer if examined closely enough. The advent of ultrasonography and fine-needle aspiration biopsy has allowed many previously undetected cancers to be identified, changing the epidemiology of the disease. Over the past 30 years, the detected incidence of thyroid cancer has increased three-fold, the entire increase attributable to papillary thyroid cancer and 87% of the increase attributable to tumors measuring less than 2 centimeters."

The researchers studied more than 35,000 patients with papillary thyroid cancer that on diagnosis had not spread outside the thyroid. Within the group studied, 440 (1.2 percent) did not receive treatment. The researchers found that the death rate for those who did not receive treatment was not significantly different from those who did receive treatment.

Generally, the 20-year survival rate was estimated at 97 percent for the untreated patients, and 99 percent for those who received treatment.

According to the study authors: "These data help put management decisions about localized papillary thyroid cancer in perspective: papillary thyroid cancers of any size that are confined to the thyroid gland, have no lymph node metastases at presentation and do not show extraglandular extension [reach beyond the thyroid gland] are unlikely to result in death due to the cancer. Thus, clinicians and patients should feel comfortable considering the option to observe for a year or longer cancers that fall into this category. When treatment is elected, the cancers in this category can be managed with either hemithyroidectomy [removal of part of the thyroid] or total thyroidectomy [removal of the complete gland], and the prognosis will be the same."