原発性甲状腺癌の年令による臨床病理学的特徴および予後の比較検討

Two-hundred thirty-six patients with primary thyroid cancer who received operation were divided into two groups by age, i.e.,５９patients of age ＜４５years（Early adulthood, EA）and１７７ patients of age≧４５years（advanced age, AA）. Clinicopathologic factors and disease-free survival （DFS）were compared between the two groups. There was no difference in clinicopathologic factors except for higher proportion of patients with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma in the AA patients than in the EA patients（６．７％ vs. ０％, p＝０．０４１）. DFS was significantly longer in the AA patients than in the EA patients（disease-free rates at１０years after operation，９４．８％ vs. ７２．５％, p＝０．００３１）. Overall survival was not different between the two groups. The EA patients who showed shorten DFS were divided into two groups，１７ patients of age ＜３０ years （juvenile and young adult, JYA）and ４２ patients of age ≧３０ years, and DFS of each group was compared with that of the AA patients. Although disease-free survival rates at １０ years of the JYA patients were not different（９２．６％ vs.９４．８％, p＝０．１２５）, those of patients of age ≧３０years were significantly lower than those of the AA patients（７０．０％ vs. ９４．８％, p＝０．００２１）. These findings suggest that patients with primary thyroid cancer who are ≧３０ years old in the young adulthood should be observed carefully after operation for early detection of relapse.