title: Basis for physician recommendations for adjuvant radioiodine therapy in early-stage thyroid carcinoma: principal findings of the Canadian-American thyroid cancer survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore physician recommendations regarding radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA) as adjuvant treatment in early-stage well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (WDTC), their rationale for administration of RRA, and their willingness to involve patients' opinions in decision making about the use of RRA.
  
  
  METHODS
  We surveyed a representative sample of specialty physicians in Canada and the United States and asked survey participants whether they would recommend adjuvant RRA after thyroidectomy for a 1.6-cm papillary thyroid carcinoma (Likert scale of agreement responses from 1 to 7; strong agreement >or=6). Factor analysis was performed to explore the rationale for recommendations. We asked whether physicians accepted the role of patients' preferences in decision making about administration of RRA, and backward conditional logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of strong acceptance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The effective response rate for the survey was 56.3% (486 of 864), with 62.8% (295 of 470 respondents) strongly recommending RRA. Strong RRA recommendations were founded in opinions that RRA (1) decreases WDTC-related mortality and recurrence and (2) facilitates WDTC follow-up at low risk of adverse effects. Approximately a third of the survey respondents (152 of 474) strongly agreed with incorporation of patients' preferences in decision making regarding the use of RRA. Physicians without firm convictions about the efficacy of RRA in decreasing disease-related outcomes and those practicing in the United States were most likely to indicate strong support for incorporating patients' preferences in decision making about RRA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The recommendations of physicians regarding use of adjuvant RRA are founded in beliefs in intervention efficacy and follow-up practices. Physicians in medical practice in the United States and those without strong convictions about RRA efficacy are most likely to incorporate patients' views in individualizing decisions about RRA therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sawka
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: Lehana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thabane
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Brierley
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Tsang
authors.forename: Lorne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rotstein
authors.forename: Shamila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamalanathan
authors.forename: Boyu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Amiram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gafni
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Straus
authors.forename: Shereen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ezzat
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D003657:Decision Making; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes