A Cross-sectional Study to Identify the Proportion of Anaplastic Carcinoma in Thyroid Cancer Cases Reporting to HIMS, Dehradun, India

Background Anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid (ATC) is the most aggressive thyroid gland malignancy. Although ATC accounts for less than 2% of all thyroid cancers, it causes up to 40% of deaths from thyroid cancer. Anaplastic carcinoma consists partly or entirely of undifferentiated cells. This represents 10% of all thyroid carcinomas and this is the most aggressive neoplasm of this gland. Objective To estimate the proportion of anaplastic carcinoma and its subtypes. Methods and Results We studied 150 cases out of which 15 were reported as thyroid malignancy. Anaplastic carcinomas are reported here in four cases of middle age 5th and 6th decay of their life, two male and two female 1:1 with history suggestive of hyperthyroidism in three cases and euthyroid in one case. The tumours were of variable size and showed large pleomorphic cells in clusters as well as in an isolated form. The femaleto-male ratio was approximately 3:1. Peak incidence occurs during the third to fourth decades of life. The age range of affected patients reportedly is 15–70 years. Conclusion ATC is a very uncommon malignancy but in our study we found four cases and we confirmed it by histopathological examination.