Comparing the therapeutic response in patients with familial and sporadic forms of differentiated thyroid cancers

Objective: Thyroid cancer has been divided into two types: familial and sporadic. Currently, the predisposing factors of familial disease and the genetic factors involved in the development of this disease have not been well identified and some researchers have shown that familial disease is more aggressive and associate with more recurrence. The aim of this study was to compare the response to treatment of patients with differentiated familial and sporadic thyroid cancer.Methods & Materials: This study was conducted retrospectively. All records of patients with familial thyroid cancer (history of thyroid cancer in at least one first-degree family member) who had been referred to the Nuclear Medicine Department of Ghaem Hospital by the end of 2015 were included. Then the patients in the control group with an equal number to the familial cancer group from among the records in the nuclear medicine department of patients with sporadic differentiated cancers, matched for age and sex, subtype of cancer and TNM stage were recorded. A check-list containing demographic and paraclinical information was filled for each patient. The results of one-year follow-up of all patients were documented. All information was entered into the SPSS software; statistical analysis was performed on the data.Results: In this study, 80 patients were enrolled in two groups of cases (n=40) and controls (n =40). In each group 35 (87.5%) were male and 5 (12.5%) were female. Patients in the two groups were similar in terms of age, sex, and subtype of the disease. First Tg, anti-TG, and TSH were not significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.13, p = 0.24, p = - 41, respectively). The amount of administered radioactive iodine in the first treatment was similar in both groups (p = 0.98). There was no significant difference between the treatment response of the two groups after one year (p = 0.33). Also, in a one-year follow-up, there was no significant difference in the repeated iodine dose and other additional treatments (radiotherapy and resurgery) (p = 0.32).Conclusion: The one-year treatment response, the rate of disease recurrence and the need for complementary therapies in patients with differentiated familial and sporadic differentiated thyroid cancer are similar and familial disease with one first-degree member does not mean more aggressive disease.