Undifferentiated giant and spindle cell carcinoma of the thyroid. Report on two combined treatment modalities.

Abstract

Undifferentiated giant and spindle cell carcinoma of the thyroid is a rapidly fatal disease. Most patients die from local tumour progression and with distant metastases. A combination of debulking surgery, irradiation and combination chemotherapy is reported. An improvement of the local results of treatment was observed. A combination of irradiation and chemotherapy resulted in local control in only one of 8 patients. Therefore, debulking surgery was added in the next 5 patients and a local control was achieved in 4.