Background
It is unclear whether differences in clinical presentation and/or prognosis exist between prepubertal papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and pubertal PTC. At present, there is a lack of definition for the appropriate cutoff age to define prepubertal PTC.
Methods
This study retrospectively reviewed 227 pediatric PTC patients (aged ≤18 years) who underwent initial surgery from March 2000 to December 2018. The median duration of follow‐up was 85 months (range, 8–258).
Results
The age range was basically linearly related to multiple risk factors, such as T3–T4 disease, distant metastasis. Age (p = 0.032) was an independent risk factor for recurrence and persistent disease. Patients aged <14 years had obviously higher rates of extensive disease. The 10‐year disease‐free survival (DFS) rate of patients aged <14 years was 59.5% and that of patients aged ≥14 years was 82.6% (p = 0.004).
Conclusions
Fourteen years of age may be an appropriate cutoff to differentiate prepubertal PTC from pubertal PTC.