Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in Children and Adolescents: Long-Term Follow-Up and Clinical Characteristics

Background The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical features and clinical outcomes of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in the pediatric and adolescent population treated in our institution. Methods The subjects were 227 PTC patients 20 years of age or under treated initially between 1979 and 2012. Their mean age at diagnosis was 18-year old (range 7–20 years). Patient characteristics and outcomes in the period before 1999 and the period after 2000 were compared. Cause-specific survival (CSS) rates and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method. Results Two patients died of their disease and 45 patients had recurrent disease (36 in lymph node, seven in a remnant thyroid, and 11 in the form of distant metastasis). The 10-, 20-, and 30-CSS rates were 99.3, 99.3, and 96.5 %, respectively, and the 10-, 20-, and 30-DFS were 83.6, 70.7, and 64.0 %, respectively. Gender and preoperative lymph node metastasis were identified as significant factors related to DFS in the multivariate analysis. After the year 2000, there were significantly more patients with a small primary tumor size, significantly more patients without distant metastasis at presentation and significantly more patients without extrathyroidal invasion. Conclusion The number of patients with advanced cancer has been declining in recent years. Lobectomy with prophylactic unilateral central neck dissection is considered acceptable for patients without the risk factors for recurrence.