Thyroid cancer in Brazil: a descriptive study of the cases reported by the Hospital Cancer Registries, 2000-2016

Abstract

Objective. To describe clinical and epidemiological profile of hospital thyroid cancer cases in Brazil. Methods. Descriptive study of cases reported by hospital-based cancer registry between 2000-2016 whose monitoring was performed by the informing registry. Results. Of the 52,912 cases, 83.4% were female and 96.9% were differentiated carcinomas. The median time to diagnosis was shorter for anaplastic cases (11 days) and for Southern region (5 days). Treatment was initiated within 60 days in 88.8% of cases that arrived at the registry institution without a diagnosis and in 34.9% of those who arrived with a diagnosis. Conclusion. Findings are consistent with the epidemiology of thyroid cancer, with a predominance of female cases and differentiated carcinoma. Analyzing time-to-treatment suggests difficulties in accessing for those who arrived at the registry institutions with a diagnosis.