Current approaches to the treatment of well-differentiated thyroid cancer.
The management of well-differentiated thyroid cancer requires a multidisciplinary approach. The majority of patients are diagnosed only after a nodule is palpable. A cytologic evaluation can readily diagnose a papillary thyroid carcinoma but a follicular carcinoma requires determination of capsular or vascular invasion. Surgical considerations in well-differentiated thyroid cancer are frequently complicated by the need to operate on patients with indeterminate nodules. Also, the extent of surgery remains controversial. A total or near-total thyroidectomy has several advantages: (1) radioactive iodine can be used to ablate any residual thyroid tissue or cancer cells; (2) thyroglobulin levels can be used to follow a patient for recurrence; (3) the risk of leaving a focus of carcinoma in the remaining lobe is eliminated.
Angelos
Peter
P
Department of Surgery, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D018249:Adenoma, Oxyphilic / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000097:blood; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*
D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D013954:Thyroglobulin