Impact of Modern Systemic Therapies on Survival in Patients with Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Review.

BACKGROUND

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a highly aggressive cancer historically associated with a median survival of about 5 months. Recent advances in tumor genomic testing have identified targetable BRAF mutations in about 35-40% of ATC cases and have shown high levels of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in ATC. These observations have led to clinical trials showing favorable outcomes with targeted therapy and immunotherapy for ATC.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to evaluate treatments and outcomes of patients diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer treated at our institution in order to determine the impact of targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

METHODS

A retrospective review of ATC patients at a single institution was performed. Data were collected from institutional electronic medical records, including demographic information, treatments administered, and outcomes including survival.

RESULTS

A total of 28 patients were identified within the period under study. Systemic therapy was initiated in 61% of patients. The median overall survival for all patients was 7.3 months. There was a statistically significant improvement in overall survival for patients who received targeted therapy or immunotherapy compared to those who did not.

CONCLUSIONS

In this single-institution cohort of 28 patients with ATC, patients who received either targeted therapies or immunotherapy demonstrated markedly improved outcomes. Further clinical trials are required to determine the optimal systemic therapy for this patient population.