OBJECTIVE: Analyze prognostic factors for disease free survival and specific survival in patients with Hurthle Cell Carcinoma. METHODS: We analyzed, retrospectively, the files of 28 patients treated in the Service of Head and Neck Surgery of the Brazilian National Cancer Institute/INCA from January 1983 to December 2002. Data regarding demographics, clinical aspects, therapeutics and histopathology were collected and related to disease-free survival and disease-specific survival. Patients were classified according to the AJCC 2002 staging system. Data was analyzed by the Epi Info 2002 software. Survival was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier actuarial method. The median follow-up time was 69 months (range from 10 to 230). RESULTS: Advanced stages (p=.03), distant metastases (p=.03) and, particularly, the pattern of capsular invasion (widely invasive) (p=.0027) influenced negatively the prognosis in the disease-free survival. Analyzing the relationship between specific survival, the pattern of capsular invasion (widely invasive) (p=.02), T stage (p=.013) and, particularly, the presence of distant metastases (p=.0056) presented statistical significance. Five and 10 year disease-free survival was 72% and 55%, respectively, and 5 and 10 year disease-specific survival was 87% and 77%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The presence of distant metastases and widely invasive tumors were the most important negative prognostic factors associated with Hurthle Cell Carcinomas in our study.
Oxyphil cells; Thyroid gland; Carcinoma; Prognosis; Thyroid neoplasms; Adenoma; oxyphilic; Disease-free survival
