rhTSH-Thyroid Ablation With 1850 MBq of 131I

Most patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) are treated with therapeutic doses of radioiodine (131I) after initial surgery (total or near total thyroidectomy), aimed to destroy microscopic residual normal or tumoral thyroid cells and to facilitate the early detection of tumor recurrence based on serum thyroglobulin (Tg) measurement and 131I whole body scan (WBS) (1-5). Recently, preparation of patients for thyroid ablation with rhTSH and 3700 MBq of 131I on l-thyroxine (l-T4) therapy has been approved in Europe by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) as an alternative to thyroid hormone withdrawal (6), after a randomized, controlled, multicenter study demonstrated that both methods of preparation are equally effective (with 100% rate of successful ablation) and that patients prepared with rhTSH received lower total body irradiation and experienced a better quality of life compared to those rendered hypothyroid (7). The present study was aimed to compare the efficacy of fixed activities of 1850 MBq versus 3700 MBq of 131I for post surgical thyroid ablation in DTC patients prepared with rhTSH (TSHα, Thyrogen®, Genzyme Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA) on l-T4 therapy.

Sex

All

Minimum age

18 Years

Maximum age

90 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

* Newly diagnosed differentiated thyroid cancer patients, more than 18 years old, recently treated by near total thyroidectomy were eligible for the study

Exclusion Criteria:

* Evidence of distant metastases and/or significant local invasion