After thyroid cancer surgery, the main focus is on additional radioactive iodine 131 therapy and oral thyroid hormone therapy to prevent recurrence and metastasis depending on the specific condition.
Iodine 131 therapy is mainly oral administration of drugs containing radioactive iodine. The drug works on residual thyroid tissue and thyroid cancer cell tissue after oral administration of iodine 131, using radioactivity to kill them, using the mechanism that thyroid gland cells have the ability to absorb iodine to synthesize thyroid hormones. Iodine 131 therapy should usually be considered for patients who have residual thyroid gland tissue after thyroid surgery and whose iodine uptake rate is greater than 1%, or for patients who still have residual thyroid glands in the nail bed on examination.
Postoperative thyroid cancer should be treated with oral thyroid hormone regardless of the early or late stage of the tumor. The purpose of oral thyroid hormone is not only to replenish the body’s deficient thyroid hormone, but also to maintain thyroid hormone levels at a slightly elevated state. When the body’s thyroid hormone level is slightly elevated, it can keep thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels below normal, thereby inhibiting TSH from stimulating thyroid cell proliferation and achieving the goal of preventing thyroid cancer recurrence and metastasis.