ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Review the trends in pediatric thyroid carcinomas using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database. METHODS: Institutional review board approval was obtained from Mercy-Bon Secours. The National Cancer Institute's SEER database was used for all cases of pediatric thyroid cancer between the years 2000 and 2016 for patients aged 0-19. Patients were grouped by carcinoma histological subtype, disease specific survival based on treatment modality, and demographic data. Treatment methods were compared using Fifteen-Year Disease Specific Survival Curves. RESULTS: 1175 pediatric patients were identified. The average age-adjusted rate of malignancy was 0.3 per 100,000 patients. Incidence of pediatric thyroid cancer was approximately 1:3.6, male to female. The papillary follicular variant histological subtype was the most common (n = 689, 58.6%), followed by papillary (n = 223, 18.9%), follicular (n = 153, 13.1%), and medullary (n = 110, 9.4%). Overall incidence of thyroid carcinomas increased with age, highest in patients aged 15-19 (69.8%). Incidence of medullary thyroid carcinomas was highest in patients aged 0-9. Patients aged 10-19 treated with surgery alone had the highest disease specific survival fifteen-years past initial diagnoses and treatment in all histologic subtypes (p < 0.05). Patients with metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma at initial diagnosis who underwent surgery alone showed significantly poorer fifteen-year disease specific survival when compared to other histologic subtypes (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: There was improved prognosis in pediatric thyroid carcinomas if diagnosed and treated early. All four major histological subtypes exhibit an increase in overall survival rates, (excluding medullary carcinomas).
