Multimodality therapeutic outcomes In anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: Improved survival in subgroups of patients with localized primary tumors

Background The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of a multimodality treatment for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). Methods. Clinical data of 40 consecutive patients treated between 1985 and 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. Results. The median survival time (MST) stratified by clinical stage was 6.0 months for stage IVB and 4.2 months for stage IVC. When the stage IVB patients were classified into 2 groups (IVB-a and IVB-b) in accord with the extent of involvement of the tumor, the MST of the patients with IVB-a (9.6 months) was significantly longer than that of patients with IVB-b (4.0 months) (p<.05). The MST of the patients treated with surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy (13.7 months) tended to be longer compared with the patients treated with 2 or fewer modalities. Conclusion. The patients with a less-invasive primary tumor may gain a survival benefit from aggressive multimodality therapeutic approaches. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 34: 230-237, 2012