Clinical features and prognostic factors for survival in patients with poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma and comparison to the patients with the aggressive variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

We performed this study to compare the clinicopathologic features and outcomes between the patients with poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC) and the patients with the aggressive variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). To evaluate the prognostic factors for survival of the patients with PDTC, we selected 49 patients with PDTC and 23 patients with the aggressive variants of PTC from three hospitals during the recent 15 years. The five-year survival rate and clinicopathologic features of the patients with PDTC were not different from those of the patients with the aggressive variants of PTC. Univariate analysis revealed the significant poor prognostic factors for survival of the patients with PDTC and the aggressive variants of PTC as follows: 1) an age more than 45 years, 2) a tumor size larger than 4 cm, 3) the presence of tumor invasion to extrathyroidal tissue or the trachea, 4) the presence of cervical lymph node invasion, 5) the presence of distant metastasis, 6) the absence of high-dose radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy, and 7) TNM stage II, III and IV. Distant metastasis and high-dose RAI therapy were independent significant predictors for survival of the patients with PDTC and the aggressive variants of PTC on multivariate analysis. However, distant metastasis was the only independent significant predictors for survival of the patients with PDTC excluding patients with the aggressive variants of PTC.