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Differentiated thyroid cancer and prognostic factors
From a population-based cohort of 5.123 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), we conducted a nested-case-control study with patients that died from the disease as cases (n=595), and those whom survived their DTC, as controls. This approach allows conclusions regarding prognostic factors with a precision close to that of prospective randomized controlled studies. Our main findings were that the widely used TNM scoring system is correct for determining survival in patients with DTC, but would be even more accurate with the inclusion of information on completeness of the surgical excision, which was shown to be of great prognostic importance. Tumour differentiation and histopathological subgroups did also influence the survival for patients with DTC. Another, novel finding was the importance of lymph node metastases for DTC patients’ survival, also among young patients, which is in contrast to other reports.
Bibliographical reference:
Catharina Ihre Lundgren Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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