Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma Treatment & Management

  • Author: Anastasios K Konstantakos, MD; Chief Editor: Jules E Harris, MD   more...
 
Updated: Feb 23, 2012
 

Medical Care

  • Treatment is mostly palliative.
  • Consider patients with unresectable tumors who are in good general condition for phase I studies.
    • Phase I trials represent the only opportunity to identify drugs with some activity against this unusual disease.
    • These studies are available in any major cancer center, are generally financed by the industry, and may help individual patients.
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Surgical Care

  • Use surgery to obtain a definitive diagnosis when fine-needle aspiration is unsuccessful.
  • Perform surgery in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy.
  • Protect the airway when performing surgery; thus, an early prophylactic tracheostomy may be required.
  • Despite the typically large size of these tumors, the extent of resection is limited when the diagnosis is made.
  • Rather than performing complete thyroidectomy, resect as much thyroid tissue as possible without attempting resection of all adjacent structures because of the high incidence of postoperative morbidity (eg, vocal cord paralysis, esophageal fistula). Although a greater extent of resection may be associated with slightly longer survival, this hypothesis is not confirmed.
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Consultations

Involve a surgeon with experience in thyroid operations in the operative care of affected patients.

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Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Anastasios K Konstantakos, MD  Clinical Associate Surgeon, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Billings Clinic

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

Lodovico Balducci, MD  Professor of Oncology and Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine; Division Chief, Senior Adult Oncology Program, H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Medscape Salary Employment

Rajalaxmi McKenna, MD, FACP  Southwest Medical Consultants, SC, Department of Medicine, Good Samaritan Hospital, Advocate Health Systems

Rajalaxmi McKenna, MD, FACP is a member of the following medical societies: American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, and International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Jules E Harris, MD  Clinical Professor of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Arizona Cancer Center

Jules E Harris, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for Cancer Research, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association of Immunologists, American Society of Hematology, and Central Society for Clinical Research

Disclosure: GlobeImmune Salary Consulting

Additional Contributors

Debra J Graham, MD, is gratefully acknowledged for the contributions made to this topic.

References

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