Treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy and the incidence of thyroid cancer is currently reported to be on the rise worldwide in the literature. Moreover, in terms of pathological staging, about 90% or more of thyroid cancers are papillary thyroid carcinomas. Treatment of thyroid cancer includes surgery, postoperative isotope radiation therapy, and levothyroxine endocrine TSH suppression therapy. The extent of surgery, the indications for isotope therapy and the degree of TSH suppression are crucial in relation to the recurrence or not. Total thyroidectomy reduces the incidence of recurrence, while isotope therapy has the advantage of being convenient and easy to administer. The main purpose of isotope therapy is to improve the sensitivity of thyroglobulin by destroying the normal and diseased thyroid tissue, and to detect the recurrent lesions early through whole-body scan, while the TSH suppression therapy is to reduce the TSH level in blood while preserving the normal thyroid function, so as to inhibit the growth and recurrence of thyroid cancer cells. Wei Songfeng, Department of Thyroid Neck Oncology, Tianjin Cancer Hospital