How to Manage Advanced Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Step-by-Step Analysis from Two Italian Tertiary Referral Centers

BACKGROUND

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) has an excellent prognosis; however, advanced disease is associated with a worse prognosis and is relatively common. Surgery followed by RAI treatment remains the mainstream treatment for a large majority of patients with high- and intermediate-risk DTC, but its benefits should be carefully weighed against the potential for harm. The aim of this paper is to critically review the experience in treating advanced DTC at two tertiary referral centers in Italy.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of 300 patients who underwent surgery for ADTC over 30 years.

RESULTS

The complication rate was 50.33%. A total of 135 patients (45%) remained at regular follow-up, 118 (87.4%) were alive, while 17 (12.6%) were deceased. The mean overall survival at 12 years was 84.8% with a mean of 238 months. Eleven patients (8.1%) experienced a relapse after a median of 13 months.

CONCLUSIONS

ADTC patients adequately treated can achieve prolonged survival even in the case of metastasis or disease relapse. Patients with ADTC should be referred to high-volume centers with the availability of an extended multidisciplinary team to receive tailored treatment.

Energy-based hemostatic devices in laparoscopic adrenalectomy

PURPOSE

In literature, few papers compare different hemostatic devices in laparoscopic adrenalectomy. This sequential cohort study analyzes the outcomes of laparoscopic adrenalectomy performed by different hemostatic instruments, to evaluate if any of them has any advantage over the other and as secondary endpoints, the impact of body mass index (BMI) and tumor size on the indication, and the outcome of laparoscopic adrenalectomy.

METHODS

Forty-six patients, aged 54.6 +/- 46 years, underwent laparoscopic adrenalectomy over 5 years. Mean BMI was 27 +/- 4.8 kg/m(2). Twenty-four patients had a left tumor, and 22 had a right one. Patients were divided into two groups according to the hemostatic device: Ultracision was used in 26 patients, and Ligasure was used in 20. Groups were well matched for histology, tumor size and site, BMI, gender, and age.

RESULTS

Mean operating time was 126.5 +/- 52 min, blood losses were 101 +/- 169 mm, conversion rate was 6.5%, morbidity was 26%, and hospitalization was 5.3 +/- 2.5 days. Groups did not differ for surgical time, blood losses, complications, and conversion rate; BMI and length of surgery were not related. Tumor side and size did not affect surgical time, regardless of the hemostatic tool. Patients submitted to left adrenalectomy bled more (p = 0.007) and had more complications (p = 0.016) than those undergone operation on the right side.

CONCLUSIONS

Obesity (BMI > 30) and large masses do not contraindicate laparoscopic adrenalectomy. Left adrenalectomies bleed more and have a higher morbidity. Hemostatic device choice is up to surgeon's preference.

Surgical treatment of intrathyroid metastases: preliminary results of a multicentric study

BACKGROUND

Intrathyroid metastases (ITM) are rare and usually have a dismal prognosis. The aim of this study was to detect which neoplasms metastasize most often to the thyroid gland, their clinical features and treatment options.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Retrospective analysis of clinical files of 17,122 patients submitted to surgery for thyroid disease between 1995 and 2005. Twenty-five patients (median age 61 years) were affected by ITM.

RESULTS

The site of the primary tumor was: kidney (15), lung (4), colon (3), breast (1), melanoma (1), and unknown in 1 patient. Ten patients (40%) complained of preoperative symptoms, in the others, thyroid involvement was incidentally discovered during the follow-up for the primary cancer. Twenty patients (80%) underwent total thyroidectomy, 3 received thyroid lobectomy and 2 palliative procedures. Morbidity was 16%, mortality was nil. The median follow-up was 24 months.

CONCLUSION

ITM should always be suspected in any patient with a previous history of malignancy. Fine-needle agobiopsy (FNAB) with immunohistochemical stains may help in preoperative workup. A long delay between the primary tumor and the recurrence warrants surgery and total thyroidectomy seems to be the treatment of choice because of the multifocality of metastasis to the thyroid gland.