Turkish Journal of Pathology

Türk Patoloji Dergisi

Turkish Journal of Pathology

Turkish Journal of Pathology

2015, Vol 31, Num, 0     (Pages: 048-059)

Poorly Differentiated and Undifferentiated Thyroid Carcinomas

Catarina Eloy 1,2, Luciana Ferreira 1,2, Catarina Salgado 1,3, Paula Soares 1,2,3, Manuel Sobrinho-Simões 1,2,3,4

1 Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto, Cancer Biology, Porto, Portugal
2 Medical Faculty of Porto University, Pathology and Oncology, Porto, Portugal
3 Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
4 Hospital Centre of S. João, Pathology, Porto, Portugal

DOI: 10.5146/tjpath.2015.01314
Viewed: 4763
 - 
Downloaded : 3603

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy and its incidence goes on increasing worldwide. The majority of thyroid tumours comprise well-differentiated (papillary and follicular) thyroid carcinomas that usually carry an excellent prognosis, while a minority progress to poorly differentiated carcinoma (PDTC) and, ultimately, to the highly aggressive and lethal undifferentiated carcinoma (UTC). Recently, some major advances have been made on the histologic and imunohistochemical identification, as well as on the molecular characterization of PDTC and UTC. In this review we summarize the most recent immunohistochemical and molecular findings in PDTC and UTC, giving a particular emphasis to the diagnostic and prognostic meaning of the genetic alterations.

Keywords : Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, Non-medullary thyroid carcinoma, Molecular medicine, Small cell carcinomas, Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma