Anaplastic Cancer

A patient called me today to tell me his mother died of anaplastic Cancer. The story was similar to Judge Rhenquist. She developed a rapidly growing lump, and when the surgeon went in, there was no way to remove the thyroid, and he just did a tracheostomy. She had some radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, but died within 3 months oif the diagnosis. The family was worried it was genetic.One even wanted to have thyroid surgery to prevent this happening to him! It is not a family cancer. It is very rare. It is usually found in elderly patients.