DISEASE RELATED DEATHS AND ITS PREDICTING FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH DIFFERENTIATED THYROID CARCINOMA

Objectives The aim of the study was to analyze the mortality rate and predicting factors which influenced the disease related deaths (DRD) in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) in a 45-year follow-up study.

Methods From 1968 to 2000 363 DTC patients underwent initial thyroid surgery in a different hospitals throughout the country. All of them underwent therapy with I-131 in our institution and were monitored until the end of 2015. Among 363 patients, 52 were lost to follow-up. Predicting factors were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test.

Results Out of 311, 96 (31%) patients have died during the course of the disease: 36 (37.5%) man and 60 (62.5%) woman aged from 8 to 74 years (mean, 52.9 years). Out of 311 DTC, there were 63 (20.3%) DRD, while 33 patients died due to other causes of deaths. DRD was significantly influenced by patients’age (p=0.001) and nodal and/or distal metastases (p=0.000), while following factors had no influence to cause of death: type of the initial treatment, gender, histology of the tumor and recurrent disease (p=0.863, p=0.956, p=0.870, and p=0.827, respectively).

Conclusions Disease related deaths occurred significantly more frequent in patients older than 45 years than in patients younger than 45 years. Presence of nodal and distal metastases has also significant influence on DRD. Patients with DTC should be adequately treated and life-long monitored.