New Cancer Management Guidelines Published

Every year, nearly 56,500 Americans are diagnosed with thyroid cancer. About 2 percent of those cases are a rare but fierce type called anaplastic thyroid cancer.

The American Thyroid Association has published new guidelines relating to the management of what the researchers call “highly lethal” anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC).

Publication of these guidelines set the stage for developing management recommendations for other types of thyroid cancer. Both doctors and patients benefit from knowing which are the 'best practices' for each type of cancer.

Learn about all the steps of your treatment.

Members of the American Thyroid Association did a thorough literature search in developing the 65 recommendations. These guidelines cover the entire gamut of care – from diagnosis and initial evaluation to treatment goals, various treatment approaches (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, supportive care) and extend even to end-of-life issues.

The recommendations were adapted from the Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians.

The study authors wrote, “Patients with stage IVA/IVB resectable (can be surgically removed) disease have the best prognosis, particularly if a multimodal approach (surgery, radiation, systemic therapy) is used, and some stage IVB unresectable patients may respond to aggressive therapy.

These recommendations were published in the November issue of the journal Thyroid. This work was supported by Thyroid Cancer Survivors Association and Joan Shey of the Light of Life Foundation.

A number of the authors disclosed financial relationships with a number of commercial enterprises, including OXiGENE, Inc., Pfizer, Eisei Inc., Genzyme Corp., Daiichi Sankyo, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca and Veracyte.