Medulllary Thyroid Carcinoma – Statistical and Epidemiological Indicators

Abstract

Aim: The aim of research was to characterized the epidemiology of medullary thyroid carcinoma on “Professor Ion Chiricuta” Institute of Oncology, Cluj-Napoca. Material and Methods: A retrospective study that covered thyroid neoplasias treated at the “Professor Ion Chiricuta” Institute of Oncology, Cluj-Napoca between 1970 and 2004. The Kaplan-Meyer method was used for the statistical analysis of global survival rates. We analyzed the differences in survival curves for medullary and familial thyroid carcinomas. A statistical analysis of case distribution was carried out according to histopathological type, gender, age group, stage, diagnostic methods and therapies applied. Results: The incidence of this neoplasia among the cases studied has been clearly increasing in the last decade. Thus, all forms of thyroid cancers recorded between 2001 and 2004 were 2.67 times more numerous than in the two decades between 1970 and 1990. The increased number of newly registered cases can also be observed between 2000 and 2004 (784 new cases). It can be noticed that the disease occurs more frequently in women, the number of female patients being 2.2 – 6.5 times higher than that of male patients. The average ratio for the whole interval is 2.69:1, with a female:male ration of 6.7:1. 6. The general survival chance at 5 years for the entire group of MTC patients (minus the cases diagnosed in 2004), which thus included 85 patients, out of which only 76 patients were studied statistically for 5 years, was of 86.6%. The survival chance at 5 years for familial MTC patients (minus the cases diagnosed in 2004), which thus included 25 patients, out of which 19 patients were studied statistically for 5 years, or which died during the 5-year interval after onset, was of 94.7%. Concussions: The number of thyroid cancer cases recorded at the “Professor Ion Chiricuta” Institute of Oncology, Cluj-Napoca, increased 3.23 times in the past decade as compared with the previous decade; the number of new thyroid cancer cases registered in 2004 represented 13.2% of the 1648 patients studied at this Institute over a 35-year period.