Prognostic factors in thyroid carcinomas: a 17-year outcome study

OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to evaluate the survival rate of all thyroid carcinomas (TCs) diagnosed in the 1999–2015 period in the Republic of North Macedonia and to analyze the prognostic influence of several characteristics on development of distant metastases, as well as to analyze the prognostic effect of seven clinical and constitutional features on mortality. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of medical data from all TCs diagnosed in 1999–2015 was performed. The survival rate of all types of TCs was estimated using the Kaplan Meier method. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied for evaluation of the predictive role of seven clinical and constitutional characteristics for development of distant metastases, and the univariate Cox-proportional model was applied for evaluation of the predictors for mortality. RESULTS: A total of 422 TC cases were diagnosed in the 17-year period, with an average survival time of 212.99 months. Results of the univariate regression analysis showed that dimension at initial ultrasound and histopathological type of tumor were significantly predictive variables for distant metastases. Multifocal tumors vs. unifocal tumors < 15 mm significantly increased the probability of distant metastases by 7.401 (p = 0.005, 95% CI = 1.817–30.190) times. Age, initial lymph node involvement, number of radioiodine therapies, and histopathology of the tumor were selected as independent significant predictors for mortality. CONCLUSION: Our results showed an excellent overall prognosis of thyroid tumors in the Macedonian population. The dimension of the tumor, multifocality, and histopathological type were the most relevant prognostic predictive features for development of distant metastases.