Neoadjuvant BRAF- and Immune-Directed Therapy for Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a devastating disease with a dismal prognosis. Patients who have disease confined to the thyroid and who are able to undergo complete surgery and chemoradiation stand the best chance for survival. Unfortunately, nearly 50% of patients have distant metastases at diagnosis, and most present with locally advanced, unresectable tumors. Nevertheless, BRAF-mutated ATC patients represent a subset of cases who can benefit from a combination therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors. Here, a patient is presented with end-stage, locally advanced, unresectable ATC who was treated with this combination. Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab was added at the first sign of progression after which he achieved a partial response to therapy, enabling a complete surgical resection f

SUBMITTER: Cabanillas ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6425982 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature