[Drug therapy of thyroid malignomas (author's transl)].

We may recapitulate: Chemotherapy, first of all with adriamycin, has proved successful in thyroid cancer even after exhaustion of the therapeutic measures used so far. The combination of adriamycin with bleomycin and Velbe, corresponding to our preliminary experiences, seems to be superior to a monotherapy with adriamycin. The side effects remain absolutely tolerable. Hence follows concerning further procedure that chemotherapy has to be applied earlier than practiced up to now, i.e. as soon as criteria for metastasition are observed and/or if the primary treatment--operation and irradiation--does not satisfy. Cytostatic therapy apparently is the optimal treatment technique in medullar carcinoma. But it is necessary, moreover, to search for other effective combinations of chemotherapeutic agents, especially in the case of anaplastic carcinoma. Chemotherapy, assisted by thyroid hormone treatment, can certainly be improved further by a more severe assessment of the indication, by early application and, last not least, by better coordination with surgical and radiotherapeutical action.