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Distant metastasis of thyroid cancer

11 Apr 2012


Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is one of the most curable cancers and has a favourable long-term prognosis. New American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines recommend neck dissection and total thyroidectomy for the treatment of thyroid cancer with neck lymph node (LN) involvement, although the risk and benefit of prophylactic neck dissection remains controversial. Huang et al. conducted a retrospective review of 1665 DTC patients with distant metastasis that underwent long-term follow-up to identify the prognostic factors of long-term survival and optimal therapeutic strategy.

They found that the prognosis of patients with distant metastasis from DTC to be favourable, especially in younger patients and in those whose Tg levels are low at initial discovery of metastasis. They further report that survival may be improved by surgical dissection of neck LNs, but do not advise repeated 131I therapy greater than 600 mCi unless there is a high probability that it would benefit the patient. Huang et al. (2012) Clinical Endocrinology 76 439–447.

Read the full article at DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.2011.04231.x