Dr. Aditi Kumar on Aggressive Multimodal Therapy in Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer

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Aditi Kumar, MD, endocrinology fellow at the University of Mississippi, discusses aggressive multimodal therapy in anaplastic thyroid cancer. A study conducted at the Mayo Clinic, where Kumar was previously a fellow, looked at 29 patients with stage IV, A, B and C anaplastic thyroid cancer, a rare form of thyroid cancer with poor outcomes. Often, patients are not treated at this stage, as options are limited and toxicities from treatments can be high, says Kumar.

Aditi Kumar, MD, endocrinology fellow, University of Mississippi, discusses aggressive multimodal therapy in anaplastic thyroid cancer.

A study conducted at the Mayo Clinic, where Kumar was previously a fellow, looked at 29 patients with stage IV, A, B and C anaplastic thyroid cancer, a rare form of thyroid cancer with poor outcomes. Often, patients are not treated at this stage, as options are limited and toxicities from treatments can be high, says Kumar.

The patients in this trial were treated with surgery if it was possible, intensity modulated radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. This combination of treatment resulted in 22.4 months median overall survival (OS), compared to 5 months median OS with standard of care. One-year survival was 61%.

Toxicities with this aggressive treatment were significant, so patients should be included in discussions concerning treatment requirements and risks, says Kumar.

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