Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Small Cell Carcinoma: a Rare Subtype of Thyroid Cancer with Unanticipated Prognosis

  • Published:
Current Medical Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The prognosis of small cell thyroid carcinoma (SCTC) in a large cohort has not been well reported in the literature. In this study, we analyzed the mortality of SCTC, in comparison to medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute, to determine the prognosis of SCTC. Information regarding patients with a diagnosis of MTC, ATC, or SCTC, between 2004 and 2013, was acquired from the SEER database. Patient survival curves were assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression analyses, Kaplan-Meier analyses, and log-rank tests. In a Kaplan-Meier analysis of the entire cohort of thyroid cancer patients, cancer-specific survival declined sharply for patients with SCTC, but it declined more modestly for patients with MTC. The cancer-specific survival was not significantly different between SCTC and ATC. Unadjusted Cox regression analysis showed that SCTC had a higher cancer-specific mortality than MTC but a similar prognosis as ATC. SCTC showed a higher cancer-specific mortality than MTC and ATC after adjustments for various confounding factors. SCTC was found to have a more highly lethal clinical course than MTC and had a similar death rate to ATC. Therefore, we recommend that aggressive, radical treatment like surgery or radiation should be performed for these patients.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Davies L, Welch HG. Increasing incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States, 1973–2002. JAMA, 2006,295(18):2164–2167

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Mao Y, Xing M. Recent incidences and differential trends of thyroid cancer in the USA. Endocr Relat Cancer, 2016,23(4):313–322

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Liu C, Wang S, Zeng W, et al. Total tumour diameter is superior to unifocal diameter as a predictor of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma prognosis. Sci Rep, 2017,7(1):1846

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Huang XQ, He WS, Zhang HQ, et al. Relationship between expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer: A meta-analysis. J Huazhong Univ Sci Technolog Med Sci, 2017,37(5):661–666

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Au JK, Alonso J, Kuan EC, et al. Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid: A population-based analysis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, 2017,157(1):25–29

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhi J, Zhao J, Gao M, et al. Impact of major different variants of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma on the clinicopathological characteristics: the study of 1041 cases. Int J Clin Oncol, 2017,295(1):2164–2167

    Google Scholar 

  7. Romero-Rojas A, Cuervo-Martínez J, Osorio-Arango K, et al. Histological variants and prognostic factors of papillary thyroid carcinoma at the Colombian Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, 2006–2012. Biomedica, 2015,35(3):429–436

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Kim WG, Kim TY, Kim TH, et al. Follicular and Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid in iodine-sufficient area: retrospective analysis of Korean multicenter data. Korean J Intern Med, 2014,29(3):325–333

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Yu XM, Schneider DF, Leverson G, et al. Follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma is a unique clinical entity: a population-based study of 10,740 cases. Thyroid, 2013,23(10):1263–1268

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Krayenbühl JC, Hedinger C. Large-cell eosinophilic tumors of the thyroid gland. Schweiz Med Wochenschr (German), 1985,115(15):512–522

    Google Scholar 

  11. Nangue C, Bron L, Portmann L, et al. Mixed medullary-papillary carcinoma of the thyroid: report of a case and review of the literature. Head Neck, 2009,31(7):968–974

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Liu C, Zhao Q, Li Z, et al. Mixed subtype thyroid cancer: A surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database analysis. Oncotarget, 2017,8(49):86556–86565

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Liu Z, Zeng W, Chen T, et al. A comparison of the clinicopathological features and prognoses of the classical and the tall cell variant of papillary thyroid cancer: a meta-analysis. Oncotarget, 2017,8(4):6222–6232

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Gurkan E, Gurbuz Y, Tarkun I, et al. Mixed medullary-papillary carcinoma of the thyroid: report of two cases and review of the literature. Indian J Pathol Microbiol, 2014,57(4):598–602

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Eloy C, Cameselle-Teijeiro JM, Rousseau E, et al. Small cell tumors of the thyroid gland: a review. Int J Surg Pathol, 2013,22(3):197–201

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Cameron RG, Seemayer TA, Wang NS, et al. Small cell malignant tumors of the thyroid. A light and electron microscopic study. Hum Pathol, 1975,6(6):731–740

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Rayfield EJ, Nishiyama RH, Sisson JC. Small cell tumors of the thyroid. A clinicopathologic study. Cancer, 1971,28(4):1023–1030

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Luna MA, Mackay B, Hill CS, et al. The quarterly case: malignant small cell tumor of the thyroid. Ultrastruct Pathol, 1980,1(2):265–270

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Cruz J, Eloy C, Aragüés, JM, et al. Small-cell (basaloid) thyroid carcinoma: a neoplasm with a solid cell nest histogenesis? Int J Surg Pathol, 2011,19(5):620–626

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Puente S, Velasco A, Gallel P, et al. Metastatic small cell carcinoma to the thyroid gland: a pathologic and molecular study demonstrating the origin in the urinary bladder. Endocr Pathol, 2008,19(3):190–196

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Beach DF, Klump WJ, Haddad G, et al. Extrapulmonary small cell: a novel case of small cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland. Med Oncol, 2012,29(3):1405–1408

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Kumar M, Gupta P, Chaubey A. The thyroid: an extremely rare primary site of neuroblastoma. Hum Pathol, 2006,37(10):1357–1360

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Eloy C, Vinagre J, Cameselle-Teijeiro J, et al. Tumorin-tumor of the thyroid with basaloid differentiation: a lesion with a solid cell nest neoplastic component? Int J Surg Pathol, 2011,19(2):276–280

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Fagin JA, Wells SA Jr. Biologic and clinical perspectives on thyroid cancer. N Engl J Med, 2016,375(23):1054–1067

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. The two authors contributed equally to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China

    Wei Shi, Qiu-yang Zhao, Shun-tao Wang & Chun-ping Liu

  2. Department of Plastic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Ze-ming Liu

Authors
  1. Wei Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qiu-yang Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ze-ming Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shun-tao Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Chun-ping Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chun-ping Liu.

Additional information

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization or corporation or individual that can inappropriately influence this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shi, W., Zhao, Qy., Liu, Zm. et al. Small Cell Carcinoma: a Rare Subtype of Thyroid Cancer with Unanticipated Prognosis. CURR MED SCI 39, 265–269 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-019-2029-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-019-2029-z

Key words

Search

Navigation