Praxis
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Carcinoma of the thyroid is a rare tumour, comprising approximately 1% of human malignancies. Thyroid carcinoma is classified according to its origin (thyroid follicular cell or calcitonin-producing C cell) and grade of differentiation (differentiated, poorly differentiated or anaplastic). Due to their different biology, genetical background and clinical course, which result in fundamentally different therapeutic strategies, the various types of thyroid carcinoma have attracted a lot of interest by both clinicians and pathologists. This review article deals with the most important aspects (definition, epidemiology, clinical course, prognosis, differential diagnosis and genetic background) of the various thyroid carcinomas.
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Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) remains a disease of very poor prognosis despite all new therapeutic approaches. We describe here 13 cases with MPM. The main symptoms at presentation were dyspnea (12/13) followed by weight loss (7/13), cough (3/13) and thoracic pain (2/13). ⋯ The mean survival after diagnosis was 6.8 +/- 5.0 months (range 1-16). At the present time, we believe that thoracoscopy is well indicated in any suspicion of MPM not only for diagnosis but also for palliative treatment of this pleural disease. However, there is a need for well controlled studies to improve the outcome of MPM.