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At MD Anderson, survival in anaplastic thyroid cancer improved dramatically over two decades as BRAF testing, targeted therapy and neoadjuvant BRAF-MEK inhibition followed by surgery were introduced, with one-year survival rising from 35 to 59 percent.
Retrospective cohort study of 479 patients with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma treated at a single centre between 2000 and 2019, divided into three eras, examining the association of targeted therapy, immunotherapy and neoadjuvant BRAF-MEK inhibitor therapy with survival.
One-year overall survival rose from 35 percent (2000 to 2013) to 47 percent (2014 to 2016) and 59 percent (2017 to 2019); BRAF-mutant patients treated with neoadjuvant BRAF-directed therapy and surgery had 94 percent one-year survival.
Neoadjuvant dabrafenib-trametinib to convert unresectable BRAF-mutant anaplastic thyroid cancer into operable disease is now a guideline-endorsed strategy.