Deaths related to differentiated thyroid cancer: a rare but real event

ABSTRACT Objective The present study describes the clinical and tumor characteristics of patients that died from differentiated thyroid cancer and reports on the cause and circumstances of death in these cases. Subjects and methods Retrospective analysis of all the differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) related deaths at a single institution over a 5-year period, with a total of 33 patients. Results Most of the patients were female (63.6%), with a mean age at diagnosis of 58.2 years. The most common histologic type was papillary (66.7%) and 30.3% were follicular. The distribution according to the TNM classification was: 15.4% of T1; 7.7% T2; 38.4% T3; 19.2% of T4a and 19.2% of T4b. Forty-four percent of cases were N0; 20% N1a and 36.6% of N1b. Twelve patients were considered non-responsive to radioiodine. Only one of the patients did not have distant metastases. The most common metastatic site was the lung in 69.7%. The majority of deaths were due to pulmonary complications related to lung metastases (17 patients, 51.5%), followed by post-operative complications in 5 cases, neurological disease progression in 3 cases, local invasion and airway obstruction in one patient. Median survival between diagnosis and death was reached in 49 months while between disease progression and death it was at 22 months. Conclusion Mortality from DTC is extremely rare but persists, and the main causes of death derive from distant metastasis, especially respiratory failure due to lung metastasis. Once disease progression is established, median survival was only 22 months.

Surgical treatment for thyroid carcinoma: retrospective study with 811 patients in a Brazilian tertiary hospital

ABSTRACT Objective The aim of the present study was to describe the epidemiologic data, histological type, treatment and follow-up of the 811 patients treated for thyroid cancer in Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo (ICESP) over 5 years. Materials and methods Retrospective analyses of electronic chart information. Results There were 679 cases (83.7%) of papillary thyroid cancer, 61 (7.5%) of follicular carcinoma, 54 (6.7%) of medullary carcinoma, 11 (1.4%) of poorly differentiated carcinoma and 6 of anaplastic carcinoma (0.7%). The majority of patients were female (82.2%), and the mean age was 50.5 ± 15 years. Two hundred forty-two patients had disease persistence or recurrence. At the last follow-up, 629 (77.6%) patients were alive and disease free, 141 (17.4%) were alive with disease, and 41 (5.1%) were deceased, with 37 deaths related to thyroid cancer. Conclusion This study was able to outline the profile, disease type and evolution of patients treated for thyroid cancer at a single tertiary hospital.

Surgical approach to medullary thyroid carcinoma associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2

We briefly review the surgical approaches to medullary thyroid carcinoma associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (medullary thyroid carcinoma/multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2). The recommended surgical approaches are usually based on the age of the affected carrier/patient, tumor staging and the specific rearranged during transfection codon mutation. We have focused mainly on young children with no apparent disease who are carrying a germline rearranged during transfection mutation. Successful management of medullary thyroid carcinoma in these cases depends on early diagnosis and treatment. Total thyroidectomy should be performed before 6 months of age in infants carrying the rearranged during transfection 918 codon mutation, by the age of 3 years in rearranged during transfection 634 mutation carriers, at 5 years of age in carriers with level 3 risk rearranged during transfection mutations, and by the age of 10 years in level 4 risk rearranged during transfection mutations. Patients with thyroid tumor >5 mm detected by ultrasound, and basal calcitonin levels >40 pg/ml, frequently have cervical and upper mediastinal lymph node metastasis. In the latter patients, total thyroidectomy should be complemented by extensive lymph node dissection. Also, we briefly review our data from a large familial medullary thyroid carcinoma genealogy harboring a germline rearranged during transfection Cys620Arg mutation. All 14 screened carriers of the rearranged during transfection Cys620Arg mutation who underwent total thyroidectomy before the age of 12 years presented persistently undetectable serum levels of calcitonin (<2 pg/ml) during the follow-up period of 2-6 years. Although it is recommended that preventive total thyroidectomy in rearranged during transfection codon 620 mutation carriers is performed before the age of 5 years, in this particular family the surgical intervention performed before the age of 12 years led to an apparent biochemical cure.

Transitory increase in creatinine levels after parathyroidectomy: evidence of another action of the parathyroid glands? / Alteração transitória da creatinina após paratireoidectomia: evidência de outra ação das glândulas paratireoides?

OBJECTIVE: Little information is available on glomerular function changes after surgical treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism. The acute effects of some head and neck operations on renal function were studied. MATERIAL AND MATHODS: Retrospective analysis of changes in creatinine levels and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after surgery. Preoperative values were compared with values available until 72 hours after the operation. RESULTS: In tertiary hyperparathyroidism, mean preoperative and postoperative eGFR values were 57.7 mL/min and 40.8 mL/min (p < 0.0001), respectively. A similar decrease was observed after parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism, from 85.4 mL/min to 64.3 mL/min (p < 0.0001). After major head and neck procedures, there was a slight increase in eGFR (from 94.3 mL/min to 105.4 mL/min, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Parathyroidectomy may be followed by a transient decrease in eGFR that is not often observed in other head and neck operations.

OBJETIVO: Há pouca informação sobre alterações da função glomerular após o tratamento cirúrgico do hiperparatireoidismo primário. O efeito agudo sobre a função renal foi estudado após algumas operações em cirurgia de cabeça e pescoço. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Análise retrospectiva dos níveis de creatinina e da taxa de filtração glomerular estimada (eGFR). Os valores pré-operatórios foram comparados aos valores disponíveis até 72 horas após a operação. RESULTADOS: No hiperparatireoidismo terciário, os valores médios pré e pós-operatórios da eGFR foram 57,7 mL/min e 40,8 mL/min (p < 0,0001), respectivamente. O decréscimo após paratireoidectomia por hiperparatireoidismo primário foi de 85,4 mL/min para 64,3 mL/min (p < 0,0001). Após operações maiores de cabeça e pescoço, houve leve elevação da eGFR (de 94,3 mL/min para 105,4 mL/min, p = 0,002). CONCLUSÕES: A paratireoidectomia pode ser seguida de uma redução transitória na eGFR que não é frequentemente observada após outras operações em cabeça e pescoço.

Prognostic influence of clinical and pathological factors in medullary thyroid carcinoma: a study of 53 cases

OBJECTIVES AND INTRODUCTION: Medullary thyroid carcinoma, a neoplasia of intermediate prognosis and differentiation, does not always respond predictably to known treatments. This study aimed to correlate the clinical progression of surgically treated patients with clinical and pathological data. METHODS: A total of 53 patients were followed for 75 months (mean average) in tertiary-care hospital. The clinical status of patients at the end of the study period was characterized to determine correlations with a range of disease aspects. A value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Twenty-two patients (41.5 percent) were alive and disease-free at the end of the follow-up period; twenty-three patients (43.4 percent) had persistent disease; and eight patients (15.1 percent) had recurrent disease. Four patients (7.6 percent) died from medullary thyroid carcinoma with clinical and/or imaging evidence of neoplasia. The following aspects demonstrated statistically significant correlations with the final medical condition: positive initial cervical examination (p = 0.002); neoplastic extensions to the thyroid capsule (p = 0.004) and adjacent tissues (p = 0.034); cervical lymph node metastases (p < 0.001); diameter of neoplasia (p = 0.018); TNM (tumor, node and metastasis) Stage (p = 0.001) and evidence of distant and/or cervical diseases in the absence of a cure (p = 0.011). Through logistic regression, the presence of cervical lymph node metastases was considered an independent variable (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical and pathological aspects of patients with surgically treated medullary thyroid carcinomas are predictors of disease progression. Specifically, even treated cervical lymph node metastases are significantly correlated with disease progression.

Consideraçöes sobre o tratamento cirúrgico do bócio nodular tóxico autônomo / Considerations about the surgical treatment of toxic autonomic nodular goiter

Alguns autores têm proposto a injeçäo percutânea de etanol, guiada por ultrassonografia, para tratamento do bócio nodular tóxico autônomo, ao invés de cirurgia ou radio-iodoterapia. A fim de oferecer elementos para a comparaçäo entre esses métodos terapêuticos, é apresentado o estudo retrospectivo de portadores de bócio nodular autônomo operados em 5 anos no Serviço de Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoço de um hospital de ensino. Foram analisados dados clínicos, laboratoriais, cirúrgicos e anatomopatológicos, além de duraçäo da operaçäo, resultados, complicaçöes e tempo de parmanência hospitalar. De 26 operados por bócio nodular autônomo, nesse período, e que tinham prontuários passíveis de análise, sete possuíam bócio uninodular. Todos eram mulheres, com idade média de 38 anos e sem outra doença associada. A ultrassonografia, realizada em seis, coincidiu com o achado operatório em 66 por cento dos casos e a punçäo biópsia aspirativa, feita em cinco, ofereceu conclusäo diagnóstica em 20 por cento. O diâmetro nodular médio foi de 3,7cm. A média do tempo cirúrgico, 122 minutos. O período médio de internaçäo, 1,7 dias. Foram realizadas nodulectomias e lobectomias. Näo houve complicaçäo perioperatória com a exceçäo de um caso de hipotireoidismo subclínico. Os nódulos eram benignos, mas em um houve associaçäo com microcarcinoma papilífero. A cirurgia, portanto, constitui método eficaz de tratamento dos bócios uninodulares, implica em baixa morbidade e na resoluçäo imediata da doença. Difere, assim, de métodos näo cirúrgicos, nos quais a literatura demonstra persistência de nodularidade e seqüelas.

Limites das ressecçöes craniofaciais oncológicas / Limits of oncological craniofacial resections

A cirurgia oncológica da base do crânio vem sendo utilizada desde a década de 1940. Um número muito grande de publicaçoes serviu para difundir o seu uso nos anos seguintes. Contudo, muito pouco se tem publicado sobre as indicaçoes desses grandes procedimentos operatórios e, principalmente, sobre as suas limitaçoes. Houve uma sensível expansao destes limites, principalmente a partir da década de 1980. Há, porém, situaçoes que exigem uma análise muito cuidadosa da indicaçao cirúrgica e podem, por vezes, contra-indicá-la. Por razoes didáticas, os limites podem ser divididos em: intracranianos, faciais e "filosóficos". Podem representar limites intracranianos: invasao de duramáter, do parênquima cerebral, da artéria carótida interna, do seio cavernoso ou dos nervos cranianos. A impossibilidade de se utilizar a microcirurgia reconstrutiva e a invasao orbitária bilateral se incluem entre os limites faciais. Finalmente, podem serdenominados limites "filosóficos" a indicaçao destes procedimentos para tumores benignos ou para lesoes malianas de tipos histológicos muito agressivos ou disseminadas. Na experiência da Disciplina de Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoço do Hospital das Clínicas da FMUSP, alguns fatores de pior prognostico, que permitiram delinear alguns destes limites foram: tipos histológicos de maior malignidade, tumores recidivados e necessidade de reconstruçao microcirúrgica.