Thyroid Cancer in United Arab Emirates

Decline in Radioiodine Use But Not Total Thyroidectomy in Thyroid Cancer Patients Treated in United Arab Emirates- A Retrospective Study

The main objective of the study is to assess the trend of clinicopathological features and treatment modalities in patients with thyroid cancer in the largest oncology center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cancer; Thyroid
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: not applicable as it is a retrospective study

Detailed Description

The aim of this study is to assess the trend of clinicopathological features and treatment modalities in patients with thyroid cancer (TC) in the largest oncology center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This study was conducted in Tawam hospital (TWM), which provides tertiary care services to patients in the UAE. It is the only center delivering radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy and radiotherapy in Al Ain city. Most TC patients are followed in designated TC clinics within the endocrinology division or less commonly through other clinics (surgery, radiation, or medical oncology). The hospital runs monthly multidisciplinary team-based discussions on patients with TC, wherein decisions regarding RAI treatment and dose selection are determined jointly by nuclear medicine physicians and endocrinologists.

We retrospectively evaluated all patients with TC presenting to TWM during the period of September 2008 and December 2018. The beginning of data collection (September 2008) reflects the inception time of electronic medical records (EMRs) use in the hospital. Cases of TC were extracted from the EMRs using the International Classification of Disease 9 & 10 codes (193 & c73). Other variables were demographic information, year of diagnosis, type of TC, histopathological subtype, lymph node (LN) involvement, type of thyroid surgery, use of RAI treatment, and radiation therapy. The extent of surgery, the exact details of histopathology, and the RAI dose were retrieved from the respective specialty reports. Tumor staging was reported according to the 8th edition of the American joint committee on cancer (AJCC)/TNM staging system [16]. Those with incorrect pathological diagnosis, incomplete data, or noninvasive follicular type PTC were excluded.

The data were extracted using Microsoft Excel 2015 and imported into Stata 16.0 for statistical analysis. Continuous variables were described using means and standard deviations (±SD). Categorical variables were described as frequency distributions. Variables of clinical features and management were cross tabulated with the year of diagnosis and exact logistic and ordinal logistic regressions were performed to analyze the annual trend in features and management of TC as appropriate. The results of relative trend were reported as odds ratio (OR) with an overall ptrend. The OR=1 indicated no change over years, OR <1 indicated a decline, while OR >1 indicated an increase over years. Simple and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed to assess the unadjusted and adjusted association of management of TC (RAI, surgical management) with age, gender, nationality, year of diagnosis, tumor subtype, and other co-variates. The results of simple and multiple logistic regression were reported as odd ratios (OR) and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) respectively with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) and p-values.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 762

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All patients with Thyroid Cancer presenting to Tawam Hospital during the period of September 2008 and December 2018. Those with incorrect pathological diagnosis, incomplete data, or noninvasive follicular type PTC were excluded.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• All patients with Thyroid Cancer presenting to Tawam Hospital during the period of September 2008 and December 2018.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with inadequate data, noninvasive follicular type PTC and incorrect pathological diagnosis,

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Thyroid Cancer Cases	Other: not applicable as it is a retrospective study; It is a retrospective study

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Clinicopathological features	Assess clinicopathological features of thyroid cancer patients	September 2008- December 2018
Extent of surgery	Assess extent of surgery in thyroid cancer patients and changes over time	September 2008- December 2018
Use of RAI	Evaluate the use of RAI in thyroid cancer patients and assess predictors of RAI Rx	September 2008- December 2018

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Tawam Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2008
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 9, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 17, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): February 21, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 21, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 17, 2021
• Last Verified: February 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Malignancy; total thyroidectomy; Thyroid Cancer; Radioactive iodine
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Endocrine System Diseases; Endocrine Gland Neoplasms; Head and Neck Neoplasms; Thyroid Diseases; Thyroid Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: SA/AJ/562

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No