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Radiotherapy

Radioiodine in thyroid cancer—how to minimize side effects

Life expectancy of most patients with differentiated thyroid cancer is normal, so adverse treatment effects should be minimized. Lower activities of radioiodine for ablation of thyroid remnants are non-inferior to higher activities and quality of life can be maintained by preparation of radioiodine remnant ablation using recombinant human thyrotropin.

Key Points

In accordance with previous studies on the use of recombinant human thyrotropin and recent studies comparing low and high activities of 131I for ablation of thyroid remnants in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) with and without the use of recombinant human thyrotropin, guidelines recommending high activities of 131I for ablation in hypothyroidism for patients with low-risk DTC probably need to be rewritten.

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Correspondence to Christoph Reiners.

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C. Reiners and M. Luster have received lecture fees from Genzyme.

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Reiners, C., Luster, M. Radioiodine in thyroid cancer—how to minimize side effects. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 9, 432–434 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.101

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