Prognostic factors and survival analysis of Hurthle cell carcinoma: A population-based study

Background: Hurthle cell carcinoma is a rare type of differentiated thyroid cancer and historically associated with a worse prognosis. The aim of this study was to define the demographic and socio-economic factors, tumor characteristics, and surgical treatment status associated with Hurthle cell car-cinoma survival using the most recent population-level data.Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was queried for adult patients (>18 years of age) diagnosed with Hurthle cell carcinoma from 2000 to 2018. The demographic factors, so-cioeconomic factors, tumor characteristics, and extent of surgery data were collected as potential pre-dictors. The outcomes of interest were 10-year overall and disease-specific survival, which were estimated using the Kaplan-Maier method. The associations between the potential predictors and sur-vival were evaluated using the Cox proportional hazard model.Results: In total, 4,643 patients with Hurthle cell carcinoma were identified using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. The cohort was predominately White, had a mean age of 57.7 (+/- 15.6), 69% female sex, and median follow-up was 90 months. The 10-year overall survival and Hurthle cell carcinoma-specific survival were 78.1% (95% confidence interval: 76.7%-79.5%) and 91.8% (95% confidence interval: 90.9%-92.9%), respectively. Younger age <55 years, female sex, White race, Hispanic ethnicity, higher household income, and lower tumor grade and stage were significantly associated with increased survival (P < .01). In the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, all variables except race and ethnicity remained significantly associated with overall survival. Although patients who underwent thyroid surgery had improved survival compared to no surgery, the extent of surgery did not have any effect on their overall or disease-specific survival.Conclusion: This study highlighted the aggressive nature of Hurthle cell carcinoma and the effect of socio-economic factors, such as household income, which may play a role in Hurthle cell carcinoma survivorship. Research is needed to understand the interplay of these factors and their role in predicting patient outcomes.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the survival rate of Hurthle cell carcinoma using population-level data and found significant associations between age, gender, race, ethnicity, household income, tumor grade and stage, and the survival rate of Hurthle cell carcinoma. Surgical treatment had a positive impact on patients' survival, but the extent of surgery did not affect the survival rate.