Hypothyroidism Improves Prognosis in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer patients who are hypothyroid face better outcomes and slower development of their cancer than patients who have normal TSH levels, according to a retrospective study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 95th Annual Meeting. The researchers looked at the link between thyroid disease and lung cancer, a link that has been intriguing since it was observed, nearly two decades ago, that a man with lung cancer had a remission after a hypothyroid myxedema coma. Another more recent study found that patients who had radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism had a lower risk of getting and dying from lung cancer. The researchers found that the hypothyroid patients were typically more than 4 years older at diagnosis (70.73 years) than the patients with normal thyroid function (66.43 years). According to the researchers, "this suggests that hypothyroid lung cancer patients are asymptomatic for a longer period, and are thus diagnosed later than euthyroid patients with lung cancer." The researchers also found that hypothyroid cancer patients tended to live longer than the normal range patients. Researchers are now looking at the induction of hypothyroidism as a potential strategy for treating solid tumours.

Source: Thyroid hormones and lung cancer: primary hypothyroidism is prognostically significant for survival in lung cancer. Abstract 4440, American Association for Cancer Research 95th Annual Meeting, 2004