Table 1.
Characteristics of the Patients at Baseline
| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Patients, n | 90 |
| Age at study entry, y [median (range)] | 45.9 (22.5–86.1) |
| Gender | |
| Females | 66 (73%) |
| Males | 24 (27%) |
| Papillary thyroid carcinoma histological variantsa | |
| Classic | 42 (47%) |
| Follicular variant | 26 (29%) |
| Tall-cell variant/features | 22 (24%) |
| Diffuse sclerosing variant | 2 (2%) |
| Solid/trabecular pattern | 1 (1%) |
| AJCC TNM stage | |
| I | 46 (52%) |
| II | 0 (0%) |
| III | 31 (34%) |
| IV | 13 (14%) |
| Lymph node metastases on initial histology | 63 (70%) |
| Size of metastatic lymph node | |
| Not reported | 15 (24%) |
| Reported, cm | 48 (76%) |
| Mean ± SD | 1.4 ± 1.2 |
| Median (range) | 0.8 (0.2–4.0) |
| Primary tumor with extrathyroidal extension | 52 (58%) |
| Primary tumor with vascular invasion | 5 (6%) |
| Basal nonstimulated serum Tg at study entry, ng/mL | |
| Undetectable | 41 (46%) |
| Detectable | 49 (54%) |
| Mean ± SD | 0.7 ± 0.1 |
| Median (range) | 0.6 (0.6–0.8) |
| Extent of neck dissection at thyroidectomy | |
| No neck dissection | 53 (59%) |
| Central neck dissection | 13 (14%) |
| Central and lateral neck dissection | 24 (27%) |
| Response to initial therapy | |
| Excellent | 63 (70%) |
| Acceptable | 16 (18%) |
| Incomplete | 11 (12%) |
| Additional neck dissection before study entry | 10 (11%) |
| Follow-up duration, y [median (range)] | 10 (1–15) |
Abbreviation: TNM, tumor node metastasis.
a
Three patients had concomitant tall-cell and follicular variant features and were included in both categories.