ABSTRACT
There is limited prospective randomized controlled data relating to the management of differentiated thyroid cancer as it is an uncommon disease with a long natural history. The recommendations in this chapter reflect common UK practice and advice from the British Thyroid Association and American Thyroid Association guidelines. Normal thyroid gland tissue and differentiated thyroid cancer can concentrate iodine from the circulation. With serum Tg testing with or without radioiodine imaging for the detection of thyroid remnants and well-differentiated thyroid cancer in post-thyroidectomy patients maintained on thyroid hormone suppression therapy. Between 5% and 20% of patients with papillary thyroid cancer relapse in the thyroid bed or cervical nodes, and surgery is the treatment of choice for such locoregional recurrence. Patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer have a very poor prognosis, with the median survival being 6 months from symptom onset.
