European consensus for the management of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma of the follicular epithelium

Procalcitonin measurement to screen medullary thyroid carcinoma: A prospective evaluation in a series of 2705 patients with thyroid nodules

“…All in all, pros and cons of using CT to screen patients carrying thyroid nodules for MTC are differently balanced in currently available clinical guidelines: the ETA consensus report published in 2006 clearly states that routine measurement of CT should be applied in the management of thyroid nodule cases, as it is more sensitive than fine‐needle cytology 13. Besides, the more recent AACE, AME and ETA's common document declared that routine measurement of basal CT may be useful and strongly recommended its measurement in certain high‐risk groups 14.…”

Why radioiodine remnant ablation is right for most patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma

“…Preliminary analyses of our patient population indicate that the benefits of RRA may even extend further. After successful RRA treatment, among patients with high-risk disease characteristics according to the definition of the 2006 European consensus [4] there appears to be no difference in disease-free and cancer-specific survival between those at 'high risk' and those who are not.…”

“…For example, in a survey from North America [2] the majority of physicians are convinced that RRA decreases DTC-related mortality and recurrence, and facilitates DTC follow-up with a low risk of adverse effects. RRA has been adopted as an integral part of several recent international guidelines for the treatment of DTC, such as those of the American Thyroid Association [3], the European Thyroid Association [4], and the European Association of Nuclear Medicine [5], as well as several national guidelines in countries such as the UK, Germany [6,7], the Netherlands and Austria.…”

“…They also highlight the problem in comparing such studies in terms of outcome: in the various studies different 'staging' systems were used, in which the lowest risk stages varied widely. Therefore recent internationally acclaimed guidelines and consensus statements [3,4,21,22] at least clearly categorize patients who should not, who might, and who should receive RRA treatment according to the (pathological) extension of the disease. In a further development of staging, even RRA treatment itself may facilitate staging and further follow-up of DTC.…”

Differentiated thyroid cancer incidentally detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT: patient’s future in a hot-spot?

“…They analysed 54 patients in whom focal 18 F-FDG uptake on PET was due to a DTC and who were then clinically followed up over time. All the patients, independent of tumour size, staging or any other variable, underwent total thyroidectomy, 131 I remnant ablation (RAI) and levothyroxine suppressive therapy, and were followed up according to published guidelines both in case of recurrence as well as in case of non-evidence of disease [7]. The baseline scans which had originally resulted in the discovery of the DTC were retrospectively analysed.…”