Tumor Volume Kinetic Analyses Might Explain Excellent Prognoses in Young Patients with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Figure 2

Comparison of TV-DRs and hTV-DRs in five patients who refused surgery at diagnosis. Five patients refused surgery at diagnosis; of these, two underwent delayed surgery, and the remaining three were under active surveillance. Although there was no significant difference because of the small number of cases, the hypothetical TV-DRs (median 1.59; range, 1.53–1.96) were larger than the TV-DRs in all cases (ns), indicating faster growth before presentation. One patient underwent surgery 19 months after diagnosis because of tumor growth. Even in this progressive case, hTV-DR (1.96) was larger than TV-DR (1.89) under observation. TV-DR: tumor volume-doubling rate after presentation; hTV-DR: hypothetical tumor volume-doubling rate before presentation.