Similar to the results reported by Xing et al (5), in the ≥55 group, the presence of the BRAF-V600E mutation was significantly associated with tumor size, histology, RAI dose, lymph node metastasis (LNM), advanced AJCC stage (III/IV) and tumor recurrence, which are the major factors associated with a worse prognosis of PTC (11). The gene discussed is BRAF; the disease is neoplasm.