Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer

Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer is a rare, highly aggressive, and undifferentiated malignancy of the thyroid gland and one of the most lethal of all human cancers. It is characterized by rapid growth of poorly differentiated cells that have lost the features and functions of normal follicular thyroid tissue, including iod…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 8 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 23× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2574-4496 🗓 Reviewed July 2026

Overview

Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer is a rare, highly aggressive, and undifferentiated malignancy of the thyroid gland and one of the most lethal of all human cancers. It is characterized by rapid growth of poorly differentiated cells that have lost the features and functions of normal follicular thyroid tissue, including iodine uptake, which renders the tumour unresponsive to radioactive iodine therapy. Clinically it typically presents as a rapidly enlarging neck mass that invades surrounding structures such as the trachea, oesophagus, and major vessels, frequently producing compressive symptoms and early distant metastasis. Anaplastic carcinoma may arise de novo or through dedifferentiation of a pre-existing well-differentiated Thyroid Cancer, and it must be distinguished from other aggressive thyroid malignancies, including primary sarcomas such as leiomyosarcoma and metastatic tumours to the thyroid, through histopathological and molecular evaluation. Because of its propensity for local invasion and metastasis, accurate diagnosis and staging are essential, and molecular diagnostic approaches and analyses of thyroid nodule composition contribute to characterization. Management is challenging and generally multimodal, combining surgery where resection is feasible with radiotherapy and systemic therapy, often in a palliative or airway-protective intent, given the limited efficacy of conventional differentiated-cancer treatments. Owing to its dismal prognosis, anaplastic Thyroid Cancer remains a focus of research into its molecular drivers and into novel therapeutic strategies aimed at improving outcomes.

Research published in this journal

8 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 8 articles above have been cited 23 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Thyroid Cancer (ISSN 2574-4496).

Journal editorial board
Giovanni Mauri · Italy Pamela Pinzani · Italy Byeong-Cheol Ahn · South Korea

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.