Anaplastic thyroid cancer is the least common form of the disease, but it is also the most aggressive and deadly, growing quickly and spreading to other parts of the body. Here are seven things you need to know about anaplastic thyroid cancer and its stages.
1. Low survival rate —
According to Endocrine Web, only 1 percent of thyroid cancer cases are anaplastic tumors, but they have an extremely low cure rate. Most anaplastic thyroid cancer patients don’t survive a year from when they are diagnosed.
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2. Symptoms — The main symptom of anaplastic thyroid cancer is a fast-growing mass on the neck. These tumors are classified as T-4 tumors and anaplastic thyroid cancer is always
classified as stage 4 cancer, according to the American Cancer Society website. Most patients are 65 or older.
3. IVA — Anaplastic cancer is divided into stages IVA, IVB and IVC. The first stage of finds the tumor still within the thyroid, designated as T4a. The cancer sometimes has spread to the nearby lymph nodes, but has not spread to other parts of the body.
4. IVB — In this stage, the tumor has grown beyond the thyroid and has possibly spread to lymph nodes, but has not spread to other parts of the body.
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5. IVC — This is the most advanced stage of anaplastic thyroid cancer. The main characteristic of this stage is that cancer has spread to other parts of the body, even in cases where the tumor hasn’t grown beyond the thyroid or the cancer spread to lymph nodes.
6. Relapse — Recurrent thyroid cancer isn’t in itself a stage; it takes place when cancer comes back after treatment. It can also be known as relapse, and it is usually assigned a secondary stage based on how far it has progressed.
7. Research — Although anaplastic thyroid cancer has a very low cure rate, research is ongoing to determine better treatment methods like surgical
techniques and drug treatments, according to the American Thyroid Association.
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