Prognostic features of thyroid cancer. A long-term followup of 68 cases.

Sixty-eight cases of thyroid cancer were followed for 10 to 38 years after diagnosis. A minimum followup period of 10 years was necessary because of the long natural history of low-grade thyroid carcinoma. The prognosis of the disease was evaluated with regard to several parameters: age, sex, histologic appearance of the tumor, extent of disease, and treatment. The best prognosis was found in women less than 40 years of age with papillary carcinoma in whom there was neither extrathyroid extension nor metastasis and who were treated by surgery alone. Extrathyroidal cancer in the neck treated by radical neck dissection had a 100% survival rate at 15 years postdiagnosis. The poorest prognosis was in male patients over 60 years of age with metastatic undifferentiated carcinoma.