BRAF analysis before surgery for papillary thyroid carcinoma: correlation with clinicopathological features and prognosis in a single-institution prospective experience.

Background: Risk stratification in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) currently relies on postoperative parameters. Testing for BRAF mutations preoperatively may serve as a novel tool for identifying PTC patients at risk of persistence/recurrence after surgery.

Methods: The study involved 185 consecutive patients with a histological diagnosis of PTC and BRAF analysis performed on thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB).

Follicular thyroid carcinoma with metastases to the pituitary causing pituitary insufficiency.

Background: Pituitary metastases are found in about 1% of all pituitary resections. They often derive from breast, lung, and gastroenteric tract adenocarcinomas, very rarely from thyroid carcinoma. Presenting symptoms of thyroid carcinoma metastatic to the pituitary gland are usually chiasmatic with central neurological impairment due to space-occupying expansion in the parasellar region.

A case of anaplastic thyroid cancer with long-term survival.

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) (less than 10% of all thyroid cancer) is a high-grade neoplasm, characterized by an aggressive clinical course and refractoriness to currently available local and systemic modalities of treatment. It is considered the most aggressive solid tumour, there is no adequate therapy for this disease and few patients with ATC live more than 1 year following diagnosis. We report herein an unusual case of ATC in a 59-year-old woman.

Neoadjuvant carboplatin and vinorelbine followed by chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced head and neck or oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a phase II study in elderly patients or patients with poor performance status.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of neo-adjuvant carboplatin and vinorelbine followed by concomitant chemoradiotherapy in patients > or =70 years of age or with Karnofsky performance status (PS) 70-80, diagnosed with locally advanced head and neck (H&N) or oesophageal carcinoma.

Patients And Methods: The treatment plan consisted of three courses of carboplatin AUC4 on day 1 and vinorelbine 25 mg/m2 on day 1 and 8, every 21 days, followed by chemoradiotherapy. Carboplatin 100 mg/m2 was delivered weekly for the duration of the radiation therapy (70 Gy, 2 Gy/daily).