Treatment and Management of Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma: Appraisal of Clinical Practice Guidelines

Objective: Our study appraised clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for ATC treatment and management using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) tool. Methods: A literature search was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar. Four reviewers evaluated CPGs utilizing AGREE II, with domain scores requiring a threshold of >60%. Inter-reviewer agreement was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Results: 12 CPGs were evaluated after application of inclusion/exclusion criteria. There were two "high", four "average", and six "low"quality CPGs. The domains with the highest scores were "Clarity of Presentation"(69.44±16.75) and "Scope and purpose"(68.87±20.88), while "Applicability"(7.12±6.17) and "Rigor of Development"(50.26±20.77) had the lowest scores. ICC showed a high level of inter-reviewer agreement (0.689-0.924; good-excellent). Conclusion: Our results showcased wide variability in quality amongst guidelines for the treatment and management of ATC. These findings necessitate greater standardization among CPGs and greater focus on the applicability of recommended practices.