Objective: Some patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) would suffer from locoregional recurrences or distant metastases. This study was aimed to elucidate the impacts of locoregional recurrences and distant metastases on these patients' survival.
Design: Retrospective hospital-based cohort study.
Population: Data were collected from 1636 subjects with PTC at National Taiwan University Hospital between 1985 and 2007.
Measurements: Overall and disease-specific survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Time-independent and time-dependent prognostic factors were included simultaneously in multivariate analyses using Cox models.
Results: Overall survival (OS) rates at 10- and 20-years were 90% and 76%, respectively. The 10- and 20-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rates were 95% and 90%, respectively. Our multivariate analyses identified that older age, distant metastases (hazard ratio, HR: 6·69, 95% CI: 4·40-10·18), locoregional recurrences (HR: 1·88, 95% CI: 1·22-2·89), lymph node metastases, massive extrathyroid extension, male gender and larger tumour size (>4 cm) were significantly associated with poorer OS. Older age, distant metastases (HR: 15·03, 95% CI: 8·31-27·21), locoregional recurrences (HR: 3·63, 95% CI: 2·03-6·51), massive extrathyroid extension, male gender and larger tumour size (>4 cm) were independently related to worse DSS. The performance of high-dose (131) I ablation had a protective effect on OS and DSS.
Conclusion: The locoregional recurrences had a moderately harmful impact on OS and DSS, but age and distant metastases were the major decisive factors for OS and DSS. High-dose (131) I ablation had a protective role. However, lymph node dissection did not alter the prognosis whenever lymph node metastases only influenced OS.
© 2014 The Authors. Clinical Endocrinology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.