TOPLINE:

The rates of recurrence-free and disease-specific survival were comparable between patients with differentiated thyroid cancer with immunocompromised status and matched patients with immunocompetent status over a 10-year follow-up period.

METHODOLOGY:

• Immunodeficiency is a recognized risk factor for various malignancies, but its impact on outcomes in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer remains poorly understood.
• Researchers conducted a study to compare outcomes in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer with immunocompromised vs immunocompetent status.
• They included 8534 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, of whom 130 (median age, 55 years; 58.5% female) had immunocompromised status (62.5% had hematologic malignancies, 19% had autoimmune diseases, 11% had solid organ transplants, 4.5% had end-stage renal disease, and 3% had HIV infection).
• Propensity score matching (with a 1:5 ratio) was used to generate comparable groups by matching the 130 patients with immunocompromised status with 650 patients with immunocompetent status.

TAKEAWAY:

• Most patients with immunocompromised status (76%) underwent total thyroidectomy, and 24% received adjuvant radioactive iodine therapy.
• At 10 years, the rate of recurrence-free survival was comparable between the immunocompromised and immunocompetent groups (95% vs 93%; P = .94), with most recurrences occurring within the first 5 years.
• At 10 years, the rate of disease-specific survival was comparable between the immunocompromised and immunocompetent groups (100% vs 98%; P = .34).
• Patients with solid organ transplants also had similar 10-year recurrence-free and disease-specific survival rates as matched patients with immunocompetent status.

IN PRACTICE:

“These findings strengthen the limited data available in the literature, advocating for a similar approach to managing DTC [differentiated thyroid cancer] in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Amit Ritter, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City. It was published online in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

LIMITATIONS:

Due to the retrospective design, only patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who were treated after an immunodeficiency diagnosis were examined. Additionally, the small number of patients in each immunocompromised subgroup restricted the ability to draw separate conclusions for solid organ transplant recipients, hematologic malignancies, and other diagnoses.

DISCLOSURES:

This study reported receiving no financial support. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.