This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: theoncologist.2008-0194v1 14/3/216    most recent eLetters: Submit a response to this article Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints/Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Haymart, M. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Haymart, M. R.

Understanding the Relationship Between Age and Thyroid Cancer

Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine and University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Key Words. Thyroid cancer • Age • Prognostic indicators • Cancer stage

Correspondence: Correspondence: Megan Rist Haymart, M.D., Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, University of Wisconsin, H4/568 Clinical Sciences Center, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53792, USA. Telephone: 608-363-7780; Fax: 608-263-9221; e-mail: mrh{at}medicine.wisc.edu

Received August 28, 2008; accepted for publication January 27, 2009.

The content of this article has been reviewed by independent peer reviewers to ensure that it is balanced, objective, and free from commercial bias. Target audience: Physicians who wish to advance their current knowledge of clinical cancer medicine in endocrinology.

Unique among malignancies, age is a key prognostic indicator for well-differentiated thyroid cancer. Patients aged <45 years can have the same degree of disease involvement and a distinctly different prognosis than those aged >45. Although the reason for the association between age and outcome is not entirely clear, it does imply that there is something intrinsic to either the cancer or the treatment that is age dependent. This article explores the characteristics of the normal thyroid and thyroid cancer that are age dependent. It then provides theories for the relationship between advanced age and poor prognosis, in addition to treatment options tailored to age at diagnosis.