1. Thyroid Cancer Survival – Population based study – EUROCARE-5
Dr Dominic Agius
Head Malta National Cancer Registry
20th October, 2017

2. Overview Over last 25 years:
Relative survival from thyroid cancer by sex, country, age, period and histological type
Thyroid cancer incidence – increased
Mortality trends – stable

3. Methods Data from 29 countries
1.One and five year Relative Survival Rates for adult patients diagnosed in and followed-up till end of 2008
2. Trends in Relative Survival Rates in period
3. 10-year Relative Survival Rates in

4. Results (incidence) Overall 5-yr Relative Survival
Women – 88%; Men – 81%
Strong correlation by country between survival and incidence rates and histological type:
Highest incidence, survival, papillary type (79%) in Southern Europe.
Lowest in UK and Ireland – papillary type (58%);
Follicular type (23% - 15% in Europe)

5. Results (incidence cont.)
Thyroid cancer: Survival – Incidence
Females

6. Results (incidence cont.)
Thyroid cancer: Survival – Incidence
Men

7. Results (Histology) 5-yr Relative Survival vs histology
Papillary (98% in woman; 94% in men)
Follicular (92% in women; 87% in men)
Medullary (88% in women; 75% in men)
Anaplastic (14% in women; 12% in men)

8. 5-yr RS for papillary thyroid cancer by period and region - women
Results (Histology)
5-yr RS for papillary thyroid cancer by period and region - women

9. 5-yr RS for follicular thyroid cancer by period and region – women
Results (Histology)
5-yr RS for follicular thyroid cancer by period and region – women

10. Thyroid cancer: 5-yr RS by age
Results (Age)
Thyroid cancer: 5-yr RS by age
Age (yr)
Women
Men
15-44
>99%
97%
45-54
>95%
90%
55-64
93%
84%
65-74
82%
70%
75+
57%
51%

11. 10-yr RS conditional on surviving 5 yrs
Results – 10-yr RS
Ten-year relative survival (10-yr RS, %), and 10-year relative survival conditional on surviving five years (10-yr/5-yr)
10-yr RS %
10-yr RS conditional on surviving 5 yrs
Women
89.4 ( )
97.5 (96-99)
Men
79.2 ( )
94.6 ( )

12. Thyroid cancer survival trends
5-yr RS over period
All thyroid cancers +5%
Papillary thyroid cancer +2%
Follicular thyroid cancer +4%
In women only, medullary and anaplastic cancers +7%

13. Conclusions
Trends in thyroid cancer survival and country differences seem to be explained by:
Varying histological case-mix
Age distribution of cases
Results could inform management strategies aimed at reducing unnecessary and harmful treatments that negatively impinge on patients’ quality of life

14. Thank you