Thyroid Cancer in Children; a comprehensive overview

Objectives In this work, we aimed to report our experience in the management of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents in our university affiliated hospital and our city cancer institute as compared to previously published data.

Methods A retrospective study was conducted for patients diagnosed with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and received treatment during the period from January 2014 to August 2018. Medical reports from our hospital data base were obtained and childhood cases under 18 years old were discussed as regard their demographics, treatment received and follow up results.

Results Out of 300 patients with DTC diagnosed in the period of study; 12 were 18 years old or less (4 %). Female to male ratio was 5:1. Their ages range from 9 to 18 years old (average = 13.1 years). One patient had positive family history for DTC and one patient had lung metastasis. Total Thyroidectomy and postoperative I131 were performed for all patients. Median follow up period was 1.75 years (range from 6 months to 4 years). Eleven patients have shown complete remission after treatment (91.6 %) and one case have had persistent disease.

Conclusions Paediatric thyroid cancer in not uncommon. Despite its aggressiveness in this age group, outcomes are more favorable than adults. We reported our experience in diagnosis and management of paediatric DTC in our community with satisfactory outcomes and comparable results to literature reports. However, future studies are needed to evaluate the long term complications for radioiodine therapy.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
10. Juni 2020