EMERGENCY SURGERY FOR ANAPLASTIC THYROID CARCINOMA: A NARROW BAND TYPE OF DECISION

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0800

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma represents the most aggressive type of thyroid malignancy that typically is found very rare (accounting less than 1-2 % of all thyroid cancers). At the moment of first recognition, the condition is already aggressive with distant and local metastases in 8-9 out of 10 patients, including the potential of developing (or already having) a compressive goiter at cervical and/or retrosternal level. Many of these cases stands of a prior differentiated thyroid carcinoma (a follicular or papillary form) that had suffered a so-called “late anaplastic shift” in subjects with incomplete resection or without previous thyroid removal of any kind (and even undiagnosed condition). Our objective is to introduce a two-patient case series with anaplastic carcinoma and associated conundrum of multidisciplinary decisions, both of them being senior ladies with an associated thyroid dysfunction. A compressive goiter might underline an anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. The presence of a newly detected hyperthyroidism interferes with the decision of an emergency thyroidectomy. Some patients display cytological traits of a differentiated thyroid carcinoma and anaplastic elements may be detected only later (after post-surgery pathological exam). The overall prognosis remains poor in these instances.

Journal of Surgical Sciences

EMERGENCY SURGERY FOR ANAPLASTIC THYROID CARCINOMA: A NARROW BAND TYPE OF DECISION