Cartilage-shaving procedure for the control of tracheal cartilage invasion by thyroid carcinoma.

This study was carried out to ascertain whether the cartilage-shaving procedure is appropriate to control thyroid carcinoma with tracheal cartilage invasion. Of 432 thyroid carcinoma patients treated between 1979 and 1988, 16 had tracheal cartilage invasion only. This patient population was made up of 3 men and 13 women, with a mean age of 55.8 years. Fourteen were diagnosed histologically as having papillary carcinoma and the remaining two as having follicular carcinoma. Cartilage shaving was the primary treatment in all the patients, and subsequent radioactive iodine (131I) or external-beam radiotherapy was administered to control any possible residual disease. Lifelong thyroid hormone replacement was instituted in all patients, and the follow-up period averaged 70.7 months. Only four of the 16 patients remained disease free; the disease was not controlled in the other 12, and seven of this latter group eventually died of their disease. We feel that a more extensive resection procedure than cartilage shaving should be considered, even in patients with superficial tracheal invasion, to increase the disease-free survival rate.