Case report - Visibly curative effect of dabrafenib and trametinib on advanced thyroid carcinoma in 2 patients

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by nayy☆

Differentiated thyroid cancer generally responds well to standard treatment, yet locally advanced and refractory subtypes such as poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma remain challenging and can progress rapidly to distant metastasis. This case report describes two elderly female patients with advanced thyroid carcinoma treated with the targeted combination dabrafenib and trametinib after diagnosis confirmation by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration. Clinical symptoms improved markedly and tumors gradually shrank during follow-up. The authors conclude that this rare therapeutic modality may offer effective guidance for similar patients.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Case presentation

Case 1

Case 2

Conclusion

Keywords

Introduction

TYPE Case Report PUBLISHED 05 January 2023 DOI 10.3389/fonc.2022.1099268 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Akinfemi Akingboye, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom REVIEWED BY Zeyu Wu, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, China Ankui Yang, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC), China Xinying Li, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, China *CORRESPONDENCE Zhihui Li [rockoliver@vip.sina.com](rockoliver@vip.sina.com)[ ](rockoliver@vip.sina.com)Kun Zhang [zhangkun1989111@163.com](zhangkun1989111@163.com) SPECIALTY SECTION This article was submitted to Surgical Oncology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Oncology RECEIVED 15 November 2022 ACCEPTED 13 December 2022 PUBLISHED 05 January 2023 CITATION Peng X, Lei J, Li Z and Zhang K (2023) Case report: Visibly curative effect of dabrafenib and trametinib on advanced thyroid carcinoma in 2 patients. Front. Oncol. 12:1099268 . doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1099268 COPYRIGHT © 2023 Peng, Lei, Li and Zhang. This isan open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Case report: Visibly curative effect of dabrafenib and trametinib on advanced thyroid carcinoma in 2 patients Xue Peng, Jianyong Lei, Zhihui Li* and Kun Zhang* Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Background: Differentiated thyroid cancer accounts for the majority of thyroid cancers and has a good prognosis after standard treatment. However, there are still some complex and refractory thyroid cancers, including locally advanced differentiated thyroid carcinoma and medullary carcinoma (MTC), poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC), and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) . Here, we report the therapeutic response of 2 advanced thyroid carcinoma patients treated with dabrafenib and trametinib. Case presentation: Two elderly females presented to the clinic with neck masses, dyspnea, and dysphagia. Signs of the trachea and esophageal compression were markedly visible in computed tomography (CT) scan and ultrasonography. Pathologic diagnoses of PDTC were conﬁrmed for both patients through ultrasound-guided ﬁne-needle aspiration (US-FNA) . Both patients were signiﬁcantly relieved from dyspnea and dysphagia after a course of treatment with dabrafenib and trametinib, and their tumors gradually shrank during the follow-up period. Conclusion: Overall, this treatment modality is rare, but effective. By sharing these 2 case reports, we hope to provide a reference for the treatment of clinically similar patients with advanced thyroid carcinoma. KEYWORDS dabrafenib, trametinib, lymph node metastasis, thyroid carcinoma, targeted drug Introduction Locally advanced thyroid carcinoma is a type of thyroid cancer in which the tumor markedly invades surrounding organs and structures. Especially, poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma is more aggressive and rapidly progresses to distant metastases. Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma is an aggressive form of follicular cell-derived thyroid Frontiers in Oncology 01 [frontiersin.org](frontiersin.org) carcinoma with a behavior, morphology, and prognosis that is intermediate between indolent differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) and rapidly growing and often fatal ATC (1). PDTC is a rare disease that was ﬁrst described by Sakamoto in 1938 (2) and is reported to occur in 2% to 15% of all thyroid carcinomas (1, 3). Starting in 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) classiﬁed PDTC as a non-follicular non-papillary, thyroglobulin-producing thyroid carcino

FAQs

What patient population and diagnoses are presented?

Two elderly female patients with advanced thyroid carcinoma are reported. Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma was confirmed for both patients through ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration.

How were the cases evaluated and monitored?

Computed tomography and ultrasonography documented neck masses and visible compressions. Follow-up was used to track tumor shrinkage and symptom relief during treatment.

What treatment and outcomes were reported?

Both patients received dabrafenib and trametinib. Dyspnea and dysphagia improved significantly, and the tumors gradually decreased in size over the follow-up period.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by nayy☆