The Shanghai Cancer Center has developed a CT-based evaluation system to guide surgery plans for patients with locally advanced thyroid cancer, making medical judgement more precise and evidence-based rather than experience-based.
Experts invented a 12-score CT scale to help doctors evaluate the resectability of thyroid cancer, or the expected benefits of surgery. The scale filled a blank in the medical field and was published by world-leading journal European Radiology.
Thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers in China. Though it has a low mortality rate compared with other cancers, the five-year survival rate is only 84.5 percent. Poor treatment outcomes for terminal patients are the major cause influencing the overall survival rate.
"So improving the treatment effects for terminal patients is key," said Dr Wang Yu, director of the Shanghai Cancer Center's neck surgery department, and one of the leading experts in the research.
"Locally advanced thyroid cancer is one of the types of terminal thyroid cancer, invading other major organs and tissues like the airway, esophagus, and main blood vessels in the neck. Such patients can suffer airway blockage or major hemorrhage, risking their lives."
Surgery is the primary treatment for thyroid cancer. However, for some locally advanced thyroid cancer cases, complete resection is not possible. Such patients usually receive neoadjuvant therapies such as targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation to shrink the size of the cancer and then go for surgery.
The accurate evaluation on which patients can receive surgery and when they can do it will directly affect the treatment outcomes, but how to identify those who are suitable or not for surgery is difficult, as the evaluation is mainly based on doctors' past experiences and theories.
"We need a scientific and objective evaluation system to guide doctors," said Wang, who teamed with Dr Gu Yajia of the hospital's Radiology department to carry out a large-scale study.
Through multi-center research, experts established a 12-score CT-based scale to guide doctors' decisions based on each patient's CT image.
"The scale provides an objective evaluation on resectability of locally advanced thyroid cancer, speeding up clinical efficiency and providing more benefits to patients," Wang said.
