Columnar cell papillary thyroid carcinoma prognosis: findings from the SEER database using propensity score matching analysis.

Background: Columnar cell papillary thyroid carcinoma (CCPTC) is a rare variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), whose prognosis, as defined by the American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines, is considered poor, although available evidence is insufficient for reliable assessment. This study aimed to investigate the CCPTC prognosis using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.

Methods: Data of thyroid cancer patients, recorded from 2004 to 2013, were extracted to assess the CCPTC prognosis. All-cause and cancer-specific mortality rates associated with thyroid cancer types were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression. Propensity score matching analysis was used to adjust for potential confounders.

Results: Cancer-specific mortality per 1000 person-years was higher for CCPTC than for classic papillary thyroid cancer (CPTC) and follicular thyroid cancer (FTC). The multivariate Cox regression model revealed that the cancer-specific and all-cause mortality rates were higher for CCPTC than for CPTC but not FTC. However, propensity score matching analysis demonstrated a significantly lower survival for CCPTC than for both CPTC and FTC.

Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence to support the poor prognosis associated with CCPTC. These findings may serve to improve the diagnosis of CCPTC, provide reliable reference data for clinical use, and increase the comprehensiveness of current guidelines.