The incidence of thyroid cancer has risen exponentially over the last decades among developed countries. Even though this is mainly attributed to small well differentiated carcinomas (DTC) with excellent prognosis, the rates of advanced disease have also elevated. While the characteristics of advanced thyroid cancer are intuitively recognized by experienced surgeons of the field, a common definition among scientific societies is yet to be reached. The four main features of advanced cancer are locally and regionally advanced disease, distant metastasis, and recurrence. Guidelines for the optimal treatment of advanced disease are mainly included in the broader guidelines of each cancer subtype, such as the American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines for DTC, Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) and most recently Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma (ATC). In the European setting, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2019 guidelines on thyroid cancer include a subsection for the management of advanced disease of each thyroid cancer type. A common limitation among published guidelines is the moderate to low level of evidence upon which the advanced disease recommendations are based; however, broad consensus has been reached regarding the paramount importance of surgery if an R0/R1 resection is achievable. Recently, new advances in targeted therapy guided by genetic alterations found in the tumor have provided new treatment options for patients; therefore, latest guidelines encourage the inclusion of patients with advanced disease in these clinical trials. Finally, neoadjuvant therapy modalities are constantly gaining ground with promising results allowing a greater portion of patients to benefit from surgery.
The main aim of the study is to evaluate peri-operative surgical characteristics, operation extent, postoperative morbidity, and outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for advanced thyroid cancer in different European centers using the EUROCRINE® database.