<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec id="j_raon-2020-0023_s_006_w2aab3b7c44b1b6b1aab1c16b1Aa"><h3>Background</h3><p>Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive tumors. The aim of the study was to determine the correlation between a higher dietary intake of iodine, frequency of ATC and the characteristics of ATC, and to find out how often patients with ATC had a history of radioiodine (RAI) therapy.</p></sec><sec id="j_raon-2020-0023_s_007_w2aab3b7c44b1b6b1aab1c16b2Aa"><h3>Patients and methods</h3><p>This retrospective study included 220 patients (152 females, 68 males; mean age 68 years) with ATC who were treated in our country from 1972 to 2017. The salt was iodinated with 10 mg of potassium iodide/ kg before 1999, and with 25 mg of potassium iodide/kg thereafter. The patients were assorted into 15-year periods: 1972–1986, 1987–2001, and 2002–2017.</p></sec><sec id="j_raon-2020-0023_s_008_w2aab3b7c44b1b6b1aab1c16b3Aa"><h3>Results</h3><p>The incidence of ATC decreased after a higher iodination of salt (p = 0.04). Patients are nowadays older (p = 0.013) and have less frequent lymph node metastases (p = 0.012). The frequency of distant metastases did not change over time. The median survival of patients in the first, second, and third periods was 3, 4, and 3 months, respectively (p &lt; 0.05). The history of RAI therapy was present in 7.7% of patients.</p></sec><sec id="j_raon-2020-0023_s_009_w2aab3b7c44b1b6b1aab1c16b4Aa"><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The number of patients with a history of RAI therapy did not change statistically over time. The incidence of ATC in Slovenia decreased probably because of higher salt iodination.</p></sec></abstract>

BackgroundAnaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive tumors. The aim of the study was to determine the correlation between a higher dietary intake of iodine, frequency of ATC and the characteristics of ATC, and to find out how often patients with ATC had a history of radioiodine (RAI) therapy.Patients and methodsThis retrospective study included 220 patients (152 females, 68 males; mean age 68 years) with ATC who were treated in our country from 1972 to 2017. The salt was iodinated with 10 mg of potassium iodide/ kg before 1999, and with 25 mg of potassium iodide/kg thereafter. The patients were assorted into 15-year periods: 1972–1986, 1987–2001, and 2002–2017.ResultsThe incidence of ATC decreased after a higher iodination of salt (p = 0.04). Patients are nowadays older (p = 0.013) and have less frequent lymph node metastases (p = 0.012). The frequency of distant metastases did not change over time. The median survival of patients in the first, second, and third periods was 3, 4, and 3 months, respectively (p < 0.05). The history of RAI therapy was present in 7.7% of patients.ConclusionsThe number of patients with a history of RAI therapy did not change statistically over time. The incidence of ATC in Slovenia decreased probably because of higher salt iodination.

Dietary iodine intake, therapy with radioiodine, and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma

Radiology and Oncology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

BackgroundAnaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive tumors. The aim of the study was to determine the correlation between a higher dietary...

Dietary iodine intake, therapy with radioiodine, and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: May 02, 2020

Page range: 187 - 193

Received: Nov 16, 2019

Accepted: Mar 30, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/raon-2020-0023

© 2020 Nikola Besic, Barbara Gazic, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.