Management of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: The Standard of Care

Abstract

In the past decade, the management of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) underwent a paradigm shift toward the use of risk stratification with the goal of maximizing the benefit and minimizing the morbidity of radioiodine (131I) therapy. 131I therapy is guided by information derived from surgical histopathology, molecular markers, postoperative diagnostic radioiodine scintigraphy, and thyroglobulin levels. 131I is used for diagnostic imaging and therapy of DTC based on physiologic sodium-iodine symporter expression in normal and neoplastic thyroid tissue. We summarize the essential information at the core of multidisciplinary DTC management, which emphasizes individualization of 131I therapy according to the patient's risk for tumor recurrence.