Clinical Characteristics of Patient Population
| Characteristic | GR (n = 231) | MSKCC (n = 121) | GR + MSKCC (n = 352) | P |
| Sex (%) | ||||
| Female | 153 (66) | 68 (56)* | 221 (63) | 0.09 |
| Primary thyroid tumor | ||||
| Median age at diagnosis (y) | 40 (range, 5–90) | 49 (range, 7–77) | 42 (range, 5–90) | 0.03 |
| Histology (%) | ||||
| Follicular thyroid carcinoma | 74 (32.0) | 32 (26.5) | 106 (30.1) | |
| Papillary thyroid carcinoma | 156 (67.5) | 89 (73.5) | 245 (69.6) | Not significant |
| Other | 1 (0.3) | 0 | 1 (0.3) | |
| Distant metastases | ||||
| Median age at diagnosis (y) | 42 (range, 6–90) | 53 (range, 10–80) | 46 (range, 6–90) | <0.01 |
| Median year of diagnosis | 1994 (range, 1981–2007) | 2000 (range, 1983–2008) | 1997 (range, 1981–2008) | <0.0001 |
| Synchronous metastases (%)† | 143 (61.9) | 67 (55.4) | 210 (59.7) | Not significant |
| Site (%) | ||||
| Lung | 139 (60.2) | 66 (54.6) | 205 (58.2) | |
| Bone | 55 (23.8) | 29 (24.0) | 84 (23.9) | Not significant |
| Lung and bone (± others) | 37 (16.0) | 26 (21.5) | 63 (17.9) | |
| Metastases size (%) | ||||
| Macronodular lung metastases | 37 (21.5) | 31 (35.6) | 68 (26.3) | 0.02 |
| Multiple bone lesions | 62 (68.9) | 41 (77.4) | 103 (72.0) | Not significant |
| Extent of metastases‡ | ||||
| Category 1 | 69 (29.9) | 14 (11.6) | 83 (23.6) | |
| Category 2 | 66 (28.6) | 43 (35.5) | 109 (31.0) | <0.001 |
| Category 3 | 96 (41.6) | 64 (52.9) | 160 (45.4) |
↵* Not known, 2 patients.
↵† 6 mo before or after primary tumor diagnosis.
↵‡ According to Durante classification (8).
Category 1 = patients with metastases on 131I WB scan but with normal radiologic imaging; category 2 = patients with micronodular lung metastases defined radiologically < 1 cm or with a single bone metastasis identified radiologically; category 3 = macronodular lung metastases or multiple bone metastases or both bone and lung metastases.
Data in parentheses are percentages unless otherwise indicated.