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Adjuvant external beam radiotherapy for locally invasive papillary thyroid cancer
Author(s) -
Megwalu Uchechukwu C.,
Orloff Lisa A.,
Ma Yifei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.25639
Subject(s) - medicine , external beam radiotherapy , adjuvant , propensity score matching , thyroid carcinoma , oncology , thyroid cancer , papillary thyroid cancer , radiation therapy , overall survival , thyroidectomy , thyroid , brachytherapy
Background The goal of this study was to assess the impact of adjuvant external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) on survival in patients with locally invasive papillary thyroid carcinoma. Methods Propensity score analysis was performed on 870 patients with surgically resected T4 papillary thyroid carcinoma, identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database between 1988 and 2013. Results EBRT was associated with worse overall survival (OS) (HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.18‐2.16) and disease‐specific survival (DSS) (HR 1.58, 1.09‐2.30). Subset analysis of patients with major extrathyroidal invasion showed that EBRT was associated with worse OS (HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.04‐2.25), but not with DSS (HR 1.57, 95% CI 0.99‐2.50). Conclusion Adjuvant EBRT, in the initial management of locally invasive papillary thyroid cancer, was not associated with a survival benefit. Future studies are needed to determine which subset of patients may benefit from adjuvant EBRT.