Prognosis of patients with papillary carcinoma showing anaplastic transformation in regional lymph nodes that were curatively resected.

Anaplastic carcinoma arises from differentiated carcinoma and generally shows a dire prognosis. Anaplastic transformation may occur not only in primary tumors but also in metastatic lymph nodes. We encountered 5 cases of papillary carcinoma showing anaplastic transformation in lymph nodes that were curatively resected. Patient ages ranged from 67 to 85 years. Two of these patients showed anaplastic transformation at the initial surgery and the remaining 3 showed anaplastic transformation after repeated recurrence to the lymph nodes. After resection of anaplastic lesions of the nodes, 2 patients underwent radiation therapy, whereas the remaining 3 did not receive any adjuvant therapy. One patient died of rapid growth of lung metastasis 5 months after the resection. One patient died of carcinoma 63 months after surgery. Two patients have survived to date, 6 and 85 months after resection, respectively. The remaining one patient died of heart failure 11 months after surgery. It is therefore suggested that long-term survival can be expected for patients with differentiated carcinoma showing anaplastic transformation in the lymph node if the lesions can be curatively resected.