• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.132-140
• /
• 2006

Well-differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy with an increasing incidence. Most patients with well-differentiated thyroid caner have a favorable prognosis with high survival rate. While surgery and radioiodine therapy is sufficient treatment for the majority of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, a minority of these patients experiences progressive, life-threatening growth and metastatic spread of the disease. Because there is no prospective controlled study to evaluate the differences of management of thyroid cancer, it is hard to choose the best treatment option. And there are still lots of controversies about the management of this disease, such as surgical extent, proper use of radioiodine for remnant ablation and therapy, use of rhTSH instead of withdrawal of thyroid hormone, long-term follow-up strategy, thyroglobulin as a tumor marker, etc. In this review, recent data related to these conflicting issues and recent advances in diagnosis, radioiodine therapy and long-term monitoring of well-differentiated thyroid cancer are summarized.

• International journal of thyroidology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.117-122
• /
• 2018

Metastases to regional cervical lymph nodes occur frequently in patients with thyroid cancer. The appropriate management of regional lymph node is important to achieve good disease control and to classify risk stratification for adjuvant radioactive iodine. However, there are some occasions that neck dissection is difficult and embarrassing in thyroid cancer. Especially, extensive or unusual nodal metastases bring challenges and makes neck dissection more difficult. Carotid artery management is one of the most difficult procedure in neck dissection. The management of patients who have persistent or recurrent cervical metastasis involving the carotid artery has been controversial and treatment dilemma to the surgeon. Metastasis of well differentiated thyroid cancer to the retropharyngeal lymph nodes is rare but occasionally encountered. The complete surgical excision is usually recommended for retropharyngeal lymph node metastasis of well differentiated thyroid cancer. An extensive mediastinal dissection in advanced differentiated thyroid carcinoma is occasionally required. This paper will review recent reports of management of advanced nodal metastasis of thyroid cancer and share the author's personal experience.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.241-246
• /
• 1997

It has become evident in recent years that parathyroid adenoma and well differentiated thyroid cancer occur together more than would be expected by chance alone. However, the association between them is not well understood. We have experienced 4 cases of coexistent parathyroid adenoma and well-differentiated thyroid cancer during the past 16 years. None of them had a familial incidence or a history of radiation exposure. Three cases showed symptomatic hypercalcemia(including renal stones, bone pain, joint pain) and in two of them(patient 1 and patient 2), thyroid abnormalities were detected preoperatively by neck ultrasonography or neck CT for evaluation of parathyroid lesions. However, in patient 3, a parathyoid humor was identified and removed incidentally during the course of thyroidectomy. In 3 cases, surgeries for thyroid carcinoma and parathyroid adenoma were performed during the same exploration of the neck, but in patient 4, thyroidectomy preceded parathyroidectomy; The interval between thyroidectomy and subsequent parathyroidectomy was 11 yeras. The thyroid tumors in 3 cases were papillary carcinoma, the sizes of which ranged from 1.0 cm to 1.5 cm in greatest diameter. The remaining case(patient 4) was minimal invasive follicular carcinoma. Total or near-total thyroidectomy with various types of cervical lymphnode dissection and bilateral neck exploration for the parathyroid lesion was performed in 3 cases with papillary carcinoma. Ipsilateral lobectomy and contralateral partial thyroidectomy with consequent unilateral neck exploration for the parathyroid tumor was performed in the case of follicular cancer. In our experience, parathyroid adenoma and well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas can be coexistent and we felt that the attention to the hypercalcemic patients would be needed for detection of this rare condition.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.83-88
• /
• 2011

Robotic thyroidectomy has been developed to minimize neck scarring, and several authors have described its feasibility and safety, and have reported surgical outcomes comparable with conventional open thyroidectomy. The da Vinci surgical system robot provides a three-dimensional $10-12{\times}$magnified view of the surgical area. It also provides hand-tremor filtration, fine motion scaling, and precise and multi-articulated hand-like motions. Recently, robotic technology has also been applied to lateral compartment neck dissection in thyroid cancer. We have developed a new novel selective neck dissection procedure by a gasless unilateral axillo-breast (GUAB) approach with a da Vinci Surgical System for well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma to avoid a long visible neck scar. Based on our early experience, robotic selective neck dissection by GUAB approach is a safe, feasible and cosmetically excellent procedure. It can be an alternative to conventional open surgery in the highly selected patients with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma. The oncologic safety of robotic selective neck dissection should be verified with long-term follow-up data.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.87-92
• /
• 1990

T1-201 and I-131 scintigraphy were performed to visualize malignant lesions postoperatively in 26 patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer. Anyone of uptake index and retention index was higher in malignant lesions than that in benign lesions. T1-201 scintigraphy showed uptake ininflammatory tissues. T1-201 concentration was observed in fourteen patients and six of them had malignant lesions, while I-131 concentration was observed in six patients and all had malignant lesions. In sensitivity, combination of T1-201 and I-131 scintigraphy is higher than I-131 or T1-201 scintigraphy only. In postoperative patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer, it may be useful that T1-201 scintigraphy will be performed simultaneously with I-131 scintigraphy for detecting recurrence.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.7-12
• /
• 2004

Background and Objectives: Brain metastasis from well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma is uncommon, and the treatment remains controversial. In this study, we analyzed cases of brain metastasis from well differentiated thyroid carcinoma to determine optimal treatment. Material and Methods: From March 1986 to May 2003, we experienced 13 cases of brain metastases from well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas. There were 6 men and 7 women with a mean age of 62.3 years. The time interval detecting the brain metastasis, treatment methods, outcomes, and the prognostic factors were analyzed. Results: In 11 patients, brain metastasis was found at a mean of 96 months after thyroid surgery (range, 1-204months). In 1 patient, brain metastasis was found simultaneously with the thyroid cancer. In the remaining one, brain metastasis was presented as the first sign. Treatment included gamma knife therapy in 2, external radiation therapy (ExRT) in 2, resection and ExRT in 2, gamma knife therapy and ExRT in 2 and intracranial holmium injection in 1. Three patients received no treatment. The mean survival was 20.5months (1-119 months). Only 2 patients with early detection remained alive after treatment (23months and 119months). The age, sex, primary tumor size, combined organs of distant metastasis and treatment methods did not affect the prognosis. There were noticeable symptomatic improvements in patients who received any kind of treatment for brain metastasis. Conclusion: Early detection and treatment of brain metastasis appears to bring symptomatic relief and improve survival. Therefore, early screening for brain metastasis is recommended for patients with symptoms. However, further study is needed to determine the optimal method of treatment.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.253-259
• /
• 1998

The increasing risk of subsequent malignancy after treatment of malignant lymphoma is well known, which is mainly due to longer survival of these patients. Radiotherapy at an early stage of Hodgkin's disease or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is accepted to be associated with future occurrence of secondary thyroid cancer. Nevertheless, the synchronous presentation of these malignancies is extremely rare. Well differentiated thyroid cancer, a slow-growing tumor that responds to therapy with surgery and radioactive iodine, is associated with prolonged survival. therefore, it is important to make this diagnosis in patients who show evidence of malignant lymphoma. Furthermore, appropriate treatment must be considered for thyroid cancer to improve the prognosis of these patients. We herein reported 4 cases of synchronous thyroid cancer and malignant lymphoma in patients who had not previously recieved radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.265-275
• /
• 2000

The thyroid gland is an interesting endocrine organ where a spectrum of tumors with different behavior arise. At one end of spectrum there is differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) with excellent prognosis, whereas at the other end of the spectrum is anaplastic thyroid cancer which has universally poor outcome. Radioiodine (I-131) therapy has been in use for the treatment of thyroid diseases since 1946. It was introduced by Seidlin et al. 1) Although the use of I-131 has been vouge for a long time, its use in therapy for well differentiated thyroid cancer is still controversial 2). This is because, thyroid cancers (TC) are generally slow growing tumors, with low mortality and normal spans of survival. To record recurrence and mortality, long term follow up studies over a period of two to three decades are needed to establish definite conclusions on the acceptable mode of treatment The incidence of the disease being very low a large number of cases needed to establish a meaningful statistical data is lacking as most published reports feat with small series. Here again in the problem encountered are the differing protocols for treatment with I-131, the indications for treatment which may include or exclude ablation of residual thyroid tissue, cervical nodal and distal metastases. The dosage of I-131 used for ablation of residual thyroid tissue and metastatic disease also vary. The most reliable conclusion regarding I-131 treatment are obtained from studies reported on a large series of patients followed over a period of 2 decades or more from a single institute with a more or less unchanged protocol of management.

• 대한핵의학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2002.05b
• /
• pp.77-95
• /
• 2002

During the last several decades, prognosis of differentiated thvroid cancers improved markedly, mainly due to refinement of surgical techniques and routine use of radioactive iodine. Total or neat-total thyroidectomy is to be performed as the first line of treatment. Routine remnant ablation just after surgery decreases recurrence and increases survival. After then patients are maintained on suppressive dose of thyroid hormone to keep endogenous TSH below normal. Regular follow-up of the patients with serum thyroglobulin measurement and iodine whole body scan after thyroid hormone withdrawal or under recombinant human thyrotropin stimulation select high risk patients with recurrence or metastatic disease and treatment with therapeutic dose of radioactive iodine prolongs survival and sometimes leads cure. Currently recommended diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, present controversies and future directions are discussed.

• International journal of thyroidology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.99-108
• /
• 2018

Most thyroid cancers are well-differentiated cancers and have a very good prognosis. About 10% of thyroid cancer, however, invades the surrounding tissues, causing local recurrence and distant metastasis, and eventually affecting survival rate. In locally advanced thyroid cancers, the invasion of trachea, larynx and esophagus, can be occurred by primary tumor and may also result in lymph nodes metastasis. Surgical resection is still mainstay for the treatment of locally advanced thyroid cancer. The main purpose of the surgical resection is to eliminate the cancer completely, therefore, it can cause many complications such as dysfunction of the larynx, trachea and esophagus. It can have a serious effect on the quality of life, therefore there is still controversy on the extent of the surgery. The authors compare and analyze the opinions which were already discussed in the literatures published so far. These will help to select the surgical method.