News — The American Thyroid Association will hold its 89th Annual Meeting on October 30-November 3, 2019, at the Sheraton Grand Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to hearing major speeches and awards, attendees can view the following oral presentations on thyroid cancer.

  1. Dr. Kimberly Lim Yan, of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, will present the results of a retrospective analysis of thyroid cancer incidence and incidence-based mortality in a population-based cohort. Ms. Yan and her colleagues conducted this analysis using data from the California Cancer Registry, which reports on malignancies from all health care institutions in the state. They calculated incidence rates and adjusted them by age to the 2000 California Census population, and they used a stratified logistic regression model to estimate changes in incidence-based mortality. The analysis included 44,943 patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer between 2000 and 2012. Ms. Yan and her colleagues found that the incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing and that this rise is not limited to small papillary thyroid cancers. They also identified increases in incidence-based mortality among men and among individuals with larger tumors. The presentation is titled “Rising Incidence and Incidence-based Mortality of California, 2000-2012” (Oral 57), and it will be given on Thursday, October 31, 2019.
  2. Dr. Debanjana Chatterjee, of Eisai Inc., Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, will give an oral presentation, “Real-world Outcomes with Multiple Second-Line Treatments after First-Line Lenvatinib in Patients with Radioactive-iodine Refractory Thyroid Cancer (RAI-R DTC)” (Oral 388) on Saturday, November 2, 2019. Dr. Chatterjee and her colleagues conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study evaluating second-line treatments among patients who had initiated and discontinued first-line treatment with lenvatinib between January 1, 2016, and April 3, 2017. Twenty-four physicians from the Cardinal Health Oncology Provider Extended Network submitted case-report forms on a total of 181 patients, and Dr. Chatterjee and her colleagues estimated outcomes including overall and progression-free survival. Results from the study indicate a clinical benefit associated with first-line lenvantinib followed by second-line therapy.
  3. Dr. Nai-si Huang, of the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China, will present the results of a multicenter, prospective study assessing carbon nanoparticle-based mapping in patients who have papillary thyroid cancer and suspicious neck lesions on ultrasound or computed tomography. Dr. Huang and colleagues injected carbon nanoparticles peritumorally into the thyroid gland, then performed lateral neck dissections in 122 patients. Results indicate that this method successfully maps the lateral neck lymph nodes and can distinguish risk for lateral neck metastases. The presentation, titled “A Multicenter Prospective Study of Lateral Neck Lymph Node Mapping in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Using Carbon Nanoparticles,” will be given on Saturday, November 2, 2019.
  4. On Thursday, October 31, 2019, Dr. Christiane J. Gomes-Lima, or MedStar Health Research Institute, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, District of Columbia, will give an oral presentation, “Do Molecular Profiles of Primary versus Metastatic Radioiodine Refractory Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Differ?” (Oral 5). In a pilot study, Dr. Gomes-Lima and her colleagues genotyped and performed molecular profiling on tissue from primary tumor and metastatic sites in 12 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Their results suggest that molecular abnormalities in primary tumor and metastatic sites can be heterogeneous, which may explain differences in therapeutic responses.
  5. On Saturday, November 2, 2019, Dr. Wen Jiang, of Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, California, will give an oral presentation, “Diagnostic Accuracy of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in Pediatric Thyroid Nodules Based on Bethesda Classification” (Oral 34). The Bethesda classification system is used for both adult and pediatric thyroid nodules, but it is not clear whether the implied malignancy risk for each category is the same for children and adults. Dr. Jiang and her colleagues conducted a retrospective review for 171 patients who underwent a thyroid fine-needle aspiration at the tertiary pediatric hospital from December 1, 2002 to November 30, 2018 and classified results according to the Bethesda criteria. They found a much higher malignancy rate in thyroid nodules, compared to that reported for adults. Although the Bethesda system accurately identified low-risk benign nodules, malignancy risk in all other Bethesda categories was much higher.
  6. Dr. Hiroki Shimura, of Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan, will give an oral presentation, “Management of Thyroid Nodules in Children and Adolescents Based on the Japanese Guidelines for Thyroid Nodules: The Fukushima Health Management Survey” (Oral 35), on Saturday, November 2, 2019. Following the accident at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan implemented the Thyroid Ultrasound Examination program for residents aged 18 years or younger at the time of the accident. Fine-needle aspiration cytology was conducted according to Japanese guidelines for thyroid nodules. Dr. Shimura and colleagues analyzed the implementation rate of fine-needle aspiration and the detection rate of thyroid malignancy among 2,744 patients in the program who had had thyroid nodules at least 5.1 mm in size. Results from their analysis suggests that protocols based on the Japanese guidelines avoided unnecessary fine-needle aspirations, particularly for nodules smaller than 10.1 mm.

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The American Thyroid Association® (ATA) is dedicated to transforming thyroid care through clinical excellence, education, scientific discovery and advocacy in a collaborative community. ATA® is an international professional medical society with over 1,700 members from 70 countries around the world. Celebrating its 96th anniversary, the ATA® delivers its mission — transforming thyroid care through clinical excellence, education, scientific discovery and advocacy in a collaborative community — through several key endeavors:

  • The publication of the highly regarded professional journals Thyroid®, Clinical Thyroidology®, and VideoEndocrinology
  • Annual scientific meetings
  • Biennial clinical and research symposia
  • Research grant programs for young investigators
  • Support of online professional, public, and patient educational programs
  • Development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer

The ATA® promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology® for the Public (distributed free of charge to over 12,000 patients and public subscribers) and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA® website  serves as a bonafide clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet.