Phase II Trial of Thalidomide for Therapy of Radioiodine-Unresponsive Papillary and Follicular Thyroid Carcinomas and Medullary Thyroid Carcinomas

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the antitumor activity of thalidomide, in terms of tumor response and duration of response, in patients with metastatic follicular, papillary, or medullary thyroid carcinoma that is unresponsive to systemic radioiodine.
• Compare the differences in antitumor activity of this drug in patients with medullary carcinomas vs those with papillary or follicular carcinomas.
• Determine the toxic effects and duration of toxic effects of this drug in these patients.

OUTLINE: Patients receive oral thalidomide once daily for 2 weeks and then twice daily. Treatment continues for 1 year in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A maximum of 50 patients will be accrued for this study.