Addressing the Poor Prognosis of Anaplastic Thyroid Tumors

According to Mikheeva, anaplastic thyroid cancer is a very aggressive cancer, accounting for approximately 2% of all thyroid carcinomas. Without treatment, life expectancy is approximately 6 weeks from diagnosis. With treatment, the survival rate increases by 3 to 5 months.

Treatment is a multimodal approach including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. For patients with a BRAF mutation, there is an opportunity to be treated with a targeted therapy, which may increase survival, according to Mikheeva. 

0:08 | Anaplastic thyroid cancer is very an aggressive cancer. Among thyroid carcinomas, it accounts for about 2% of cases. The prognosis of treatment is very poor. We only have about 6 weeks from the diagnosis without treatment. And with multimodal approaches, which includes surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the survival rate increases by 3 to 5 months. That's why it is very aggressive and with poor prognosis. And the patients who have a BRAF mutation, they have an opportunity to be treated with a new targeted therapy. That's why our anti-BRAF is a good choice for these patients, and it can increase their survival.