Thyroid cancer’s “goodness saga” “Among most malignant cancers, thyroid cancer belongs to the more ‘goodness’ category, patients need not be too afraid.” Dr. Ouyang Xuenong, Director of Department of Oncology, Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Region, introduced that although the incidence of thyroid cancer has increased in recent years and the trend is younger, compared with liver cancer and lung cancer, thyroid cancer is a “mild” type of malignant tumor, which usually does not affect other organs. However, compared with other malignant tumors such as liver cancer and lung cancer, thyroid cancer is a “mild” type, which usually does not affect other organs and therefore does not require extensive lymph node dissection and chemotherapy after surgery. At present, more than 200 million people in China are suffering from thyroid disease, and thyroid cancer is a cancer of the thyroid tissue. Among them, more than 90% are differentiated thyroid cancer, which has a better outcome after treatment. 10-year survival rate can reach 85%, and if it is a low-risk type, the survival period can exceed 20 years. Most of the thyroid cancer recurrence time after surgery is within 5 years. Most of the recurrence sites are in the original tumor site or neck, about 40% occur in the original surgery site and 60% in the lymph nodes of the neck. Therefore, patients with thyroid cancer should pay special attention to whether there is a palpable mass at the original surgical site or neck. In addition, patients with differentiated thyroid cancer should avoid iodine diet after surgery, which includes consuming non-iodized salt and seafood. In addition, after thyroid gland removal, patients may suffer from hypothyroidism, which means that they need to take thyroxine tablets for life to prevent hypothyroidism. Iodine-131 treatment can kill two birds with one stone. Currently, iodine-131 internal irradiation therapy is the preferred treatment method for differentiated thyroid cancer after surgery, which is highly effective, non-invasive and has mild side effects. Iodine-131 is a kind of radioactive elemental iodine. When the thyroid gland absorbs iodine-131, it will kill cancer cells directly in the thyroid gland relying on radiation, which is actually a kind of radiotherapy. Only this is more precise and the radioactive damage to the human body is minimal. Patients only need to take iodine-131 solution orally, and the metastases of thyroid cancer hidden in various parts of the body are eliminated as if they had swallowed a “nuclear bomb”. In addition, the imaging examination can clearly show the distribution of the “nuclear bomb” iodine-131 in the patient’s body, as long as you can see the distribution of the “nuclear bomb”, that is where the metastases of thyroid cancer are located. Therefore, Iodine-131 has the dual function of diagnosing and treating thyroid cancer, which can be said as “killing two birds with one stone”. Iodine-131 is usually recommended for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who have undergone total thyroidectomy, especially for those with lymph node metastasis, to consolidate the efficacy and prevent recurrence, and for patients over 45 years old with multiple cancer foci, locally invasive tumors and distant metastases.