Surgery After BRAF-Directed Therapy Is Associated with Improved Survival in BRAF V600E Mutant Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.
Xiao ZhaoJennifer Rui WangRamona DaduNaifa Lamki BusaidyLei XuKim O LearnedNoah N ChasenThinh VuAnastasios ManiakasArturo A EguiaJulia DiersingNeil D GrossRyan GoepfertStephen Y LaiMarie-Claude HofmannRenata FerrarottoCharles LuGary Brandon GunnMichael T SpiottoVivek SubbiahMichelle D WilliamsMaria E CabanillasMark E ZafereoPublished in: Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association (2023)
Background: The aim of this study was to describe the oncologic outcomes of patients with BRAF V600E -mutated anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) who had neoadjuvant BRAF-directed therapy with subsequent surgery. For context, we also reviewed patients who received BRAF-directed therapy after surgery, and those who did not have surgery after BRAF-directed therapy. Methods: This was a single-center retrospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary care cancer center in Texas from 2017 to 2021. Fifty-seven consecutive patients with BRAF V600E -mutated ATC and at least 1 month of BRAF-directed therapy were included. Primary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Results: All patients had stage IVB (35%) or IVC (65%) ATC. Approximately 70% of patients treated with BRAF-directed therapy ultimately had surgical resection of residual disease. Patients who had neoadjuvant BRAF-directed therapy followed by surgery ( n = 32) had 12-month OS of 93.6% [confidence interval (CI) 84.9-100] and PFS of 84.4% [CI 71.8-96.7]. Patients who had surgery before BRAF-directed therapy ( n = 12) had 12-month OS of 74.1% [CI 48.7-99.5] and PFS of 50% [CI 21.7-78.3]. Finally, patients who did not receive surgery after BRAF-directed therapy ( n = 13) had 12-month OS of 38.5% [CI 12.1-64.9] and PFS of 15.4% [CI 0-35.0]. Neoadjuvant BRAF-directed therapy reduced tumor size, extent of surgery, and surgical morbidity score. Subgroup analysis suggested that any residual ATC in the surgical specimen was associated with significantly worse 12-month OS and PFS (OS = 83.3% [CI 62.6-100], PFS = 61.5% [CI 35.1-88]) compared with patients with pathologic ATC complete response (OS = 100%, PFS = 100%). Conclusions: We observed that neoadjuvant BRAF-directed therapy reduced extent of surgery and surgical morbidity. While acknowledging potential selection bias, the 12-month OS rate appeared higher in patients who had BRAF-directed therapy followed by surgery as compared with BRAF-directed therapy without surgery; yet, it was not significantly different from surgery followed by BRAF-directed therapy. PFS appeared higher in patients treated with neoadjuvant BRAF-directed therapy relative to patients in the other groups. These promising results of neoadjuvant BRAF-directed therapy followed by surgery for BRAF-mutated ATC should be confirmed in prospective clinical trials.
Keyphrases
- minimally invasive
- coronary artery bypass
- wild type
- clinical trial
- lymph node
- rectal cancer
- randomized controlled trial
- end stage renal disease
- newly diagnosed
- type diabetes
- chronic kidney disease
- ejection fraction
- mesenchymal stem cells
- acute coronary syndrome
- young adults
- neoadjuvant chemotherapy
- cell therapy
- bone marrow
- papillary thyroid
- weight loss