Follow-up and management of differentiated thyroid carcinoma: a European perspective in clinical practice.

• As differentiated (follicular and papillary) thyroid cancer (DTC) may recur years after initial treatment, follow-up of patients with DTC is long term. However, this population has changed, with more individuals being discovered at an earlier stage of disease, so that previous follow-up protocols based mostly on data from high-risk patients no longer apply. We have proposed, in a previous issue of this Journal, an improved protocol for the follow-up of low-risk patients with DTC based on the findings of recent studies. We report here the case of a paradigmatic patient with papillary thyroid carcinoma, with the goal of illustrating the benefits of applying this algorithm in routine clinical practice. We also offer expanded and additional comments on various issues in the management of DTC.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Cancer och onkologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Cancer and Oncology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Adult

Algorithms

Carcinoma

Papillary

drug therapy

radionuclide imaging

radiotherapy

surgery

therapy

Female

Follow-Up Studies

Humans

Iodine Radioisotopes

therapeutic use

Thyroid Neoplasms

drug therapy

radionuclide imaging

radiotherapy

surgery

therapy

Thyroidectomy

Thyroxine

therapeutic use

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)