• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Thyroid cancer refers to various cancers arising from thyroid gland. Differentiated thyroid cancers (DTCs) include papillary, follicular, and Hurthle cell carcinomas and represent cancers retain normal thyroid functions such as iodine uptake. Radioactive iodine (RAI) is generally used for upfront treatment of metastatic DTCs, but RAI refractory DTCs remain to be clinical challenges. Sorafenib and lenvatinib were approved for the treatment of RAI refractory DTCs and more recently, genomics-based targeted therapies have been developed for NTRK and RET gene fusion-positive DTCs. Poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancers (ATCs) are extremely challenging diseases with aggressive courses. BRAF/MEK inhibition has been proven to be highly effective in BRAF V600E mutation-positive ATCs and immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown promising activities. Medullary thyroid cancers, which arise from parafollicular cells of thyroid, represent a unique subset of thyroid cancer and mainly driven by RET mutation. In addition to vandetanib and cabozantinib, highly specific RET inhibitors such as selpercatinib and pralsetinib have demonstrated impressive activity and are in clinical use.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.214-219
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• 1998

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of the low-dose(30mCi) I-131 ablation therapy for remnant thyroid tissue following total thyroidectomy for differentiated thyroid cancer. Methods: Between March 1995 and December 1997, forty-eight patients were given ablative doses(30mCi) of I-131 after total thyroidectomy for differentiated thyroid cancer in the presence of I-131 uptake in remnant thyroid tissue. Effective ablation of remnant thyroid tissue was determined by following I-131 whole body scan. if remnant thyroid tissue remained, we repeated the same management at 6 months interval. Results: Thirty-eight(79.1%) patients had papillary, 8(16.7%) follicular, 1(2.1%) medullary and 1(2.1%) Hurthle cell type cancer. Forty-eight patients underwent total thyroidectomy, among those central neck dissection was performed in 35 cases, and modified radical neck dissection in 14 cases. Postoperative complication developed in 8 cases, which included 4 cases of transient hypoparathyroidism, 1 case of permanent hypoparathyroidism, 2 cases of transient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, and 1 case of wound hematoma. There were significant remnant thyroid tissue in 46 cases(95.8%) of patients after total thyroidectomy, which could be ablated by low dose(30mCi) I-131. There were no statistical difference between operative procedures and number of treatment of I-131. Conclusions: These results suggested that repeated low-dose(30mCi) I-131 therapy would be needed, therefore, high -dose I-131 therapy could be considered as ablation therapy for the remnant thyroid tissue after total thyroidectomy for differentiated thyroid cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5565-5570
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• 2014

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize the histopathological pattern of thyroid lesions among Saudi patients and to highlight the age and gender variations of these lesions as base line data. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data from thyroid specimens received at the Department of Pathology, King Fahad Hospital, Madinah, Saudi Arabia from January 2006 to December 2013. Results: The 292 thyroidectomy specimens received during the study period came from 230 (78.8%) females and 62 (21.2%) males giving a female: male ratio of 3.7:1. Age of the patients ranged from 14 to 95 years with a mean age 39.7 years. Two hundred and eleven (72.3%) cases were found to be non-neoplastic and 81 (27.7%) cases were neoplastic. The non-neoplastic group included: colloid goiter, including both diffuse and nodular goiter (170 cases; 58.2%), nodular hyperplasia (28 cases; 9.6%), Hashimoto/chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (12 cases; 4.1%), and Grave's disease (1 case; 0.3%). In neoplastic lesions, there were 7 benign tumors and 74 malignant tumors. Among the benign tumors, 5 were follicular adenomas and 2 were Hurthle cell adenomas. Papillary carcinoma was the commonest malignant tumor accounting for 87.8% of all thyroid malignancies, followed by lymphoma, follicular carcinoma and medullary carcinoma. The size of papillary carcinoma was more than 2 cm in 40 cases (76.9%). Conclusions: Non-neoplastic thyroid lesions were more common than neoplastic ones. Colloid goiter was the most common lesion. Follicular adenoma was the commonest benign tumor and papillary carcinoma was the commonest malignant lesion. There appears to be a slightly increased trend of papillary carcinoma diagnosis, most being diagnosed at an advanced stage.