Correction - Correction to: Approach to risk stratification for papillary thyroid carcinoma based on molecular profiling: institutional analysis

Sep 30, 2026

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Correction addresses errors in Kaplan–Meier analysis in Figure 3 of the BJS Open article “Approach to risk stratification for papillary thyroid carcinoma based on molecular profiling: institutional analysis.” The published version miscounted study dropout as tumor-recurrence events due to incorrect data insertion into statistical software, leading to misleading conclusions about disease-free survival among different mutational events. The corrected Figure 3 and revised Results and Discussion text report significantly shorter recurrence-free survival for TERT promoter mutation and combined BRAF-V600E/TERT promoter mutation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Correction notice

Nature of the analysis error

Corrected Figure 3

Changes to Results section text

Changes to Discussion section text

BJS Open, 2026, zraf137 [https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsopen/zraf137](https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsopen/zraf137) Correction Correction Correction to: Approach to risk stratification for papillary thyroid carcinoma based on molecular profiling: institutional analysis This is a correction to: Julia I Staubitz, Celine Müller, Antonia Heymans, Christina Merten, Bianca Roos, Alicia Poplawski, Annekathrin Ludt, Stephanie Strobl, Erik Springer, Arno Schad, Wilfried Roth, Thomas J Musholt, Nils Hartmann, Approach to risk stratification for papillary thyroid carcinoma based on molecular profiling: institutional analysis, BJS Open , Volume 7, Issue 3, June 2023, zrad029, [https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsopen/zrad029](https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsopen/zrad029) . The published version of this article contains errors in the Kaplan-Meier analysis illustrated in Figure 3. The data was incorrectly inserted into the statistics program so that every drop-out from the study resulted as an “event” of tumor-recurrence and was weighed and consequently interpreted as such. The authors did not notice this error when drafting the manuscript and - a consequence error - when the Kaplan-Meier curves, which harboured the error, were interpreted, leading to the incorrect conclusion that there were no significant differences in the disease-free survival for different mutational events in papillary thyroid carcinoma patients. However, in the underlying analysis, the drop-out of patients was, as explained, incorrectly counted as an “event” of tumour-recurrence, which is misleading. © The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of BJS Foundation Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License ([https://creativecommons.org/](https://creativecommons.org/)[ ](https://creativecommons.org/)[licenses/by-nc/4.0/](licenses/by-nc/4.0/)), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [reprints@oup.com](reprints@oup.com) for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please [contact journals.permissions@oup.com](contact journals.permissions@oup.com). The corrected Figure 3 is as follows: a 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120 132 144 156 168 180 192 Months after initial operation [No. at](No. at) risk All 171 142 126 117 93 68 48 36 26 12 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 b BRAF-V600E e RAS Recurrence-free survival 1.00 0.75 0.50 0.25 0 [No. at](No. at) risk 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120 132 144 156 168 180 192 Months after initial operation 1.00 Recurrence-free survival 0.75 0.50 0.25 0 [No. at](No. at) risk 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120 132 144 156 168 180 192 Months after initial operation 0 1 62 109 54 88 48 78 44 73 39 54 25 43 16 32 11 25 8 18 3 9 1 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 158 131 116 107 84 62 44 35 25 11 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 12 10 9 9 8 6 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 c TERT promoter f NTRK rearrangement Recurrence-free survival 1.00 0.75 0.50 0.25 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120 132 144 156 168 180 192 Months after initial operation Recurrence-free survival 1.00 0.75 0.50 0.25 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120 132 144 156 168 180 192 Months after initial operation [No. at](No. at) risk [No. at](No. at) risk 0 1 155 132 117 108 87 63 44 34 24 10 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 16 10 9 9 6 5 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 2 156 128 113 104 83 61 44 33 25 12 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 12 11 11 8 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 d BRAFV-600E and TERT promoter g RET rearrangement Recurrence-free survival 1.00 0.75 0.50 0.25 R

FAQs

What was the specific error in the original Kaplan–Meier analysis (Figure 3)?

Data were incorrectly inserted into the statistics program, so every study dropout was treated as an event of tumor recurrence. This dropout-as-event handling led to misleading interpretation.

How did the error affect the original study conclusions?

Because dropout was incorrectly counted as recurrence events, the interpreted Kaplan–Meier curves supported an incorrect conclusion that there were no significant differences in disease-free survival among different mutational events.

What text changes were made to the main article?

The Results paragraph was updated to state significantly shorter recurrence-free survival for TERT promoter mutation and for concomitant BRAF-V600E and TERT promoter mutation. The Discussion section was also revised to reflect significantly impaired recurrence-free survival for TERT promoter mutation and combined mutations.

Sep 30, 2026

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