REVIEWS  THYROID CANCER 

Minerva Chirurgica 2010 February;65(1):95-100

Copyright © 2010 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Low-risk differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients still deserve I-131 remnant ablation after total thyroidectomy

Verburg F. A. ¹, Luster M. ² ✉

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany; ² Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

After total thyroidectomy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), I-131 ablation is usually recommended in all patients but those classified as “very low risk”, and mandatory for all patients classified as “high risk”. For those classified as “low risk” there is some discussion as to whether I-131 ablation should still be performed. In this review various staging systems for classifying patients as “very low risk” “low risk” or “high risk” are discussed, followed by an overview of why I-131 ablation remains an eminently sensible idea in “low risk” patients