Radioactive Iodine: A Living History.

Before the development of antithyroid drugs in the 1940s, treatment of Graves' hyperthyroidism was primarily surgical. Surgical mortality was quite variable, but a significant minority of patients died during or after surgery. In 1936, Karl Compton, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a lecture attended by Massachusetts General Hospital physicians, suggested that artificially radioactive isotopes might be useful for studying metabolism.

What's in a Name? A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Noninvasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasm with Papillary-Like Nuclear Features' Nomenclature Revision.

The noninvasive subtype of encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (eFVPTC) has been reclassified as noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP) in 2016 to reflect the indolent behavior and favorable prognosis of this type of tumor. This terminology change has also de-escalated its management approach from cancer treatment to a more conservative treatment strategy befitting a benign thyroid neoplasm. To characterize the reduced health care costs and improved quality of life (QOL) from management of NIFTP as a nonmalignant tumor compared with the previous management as eFVPTC.

Treating hypothyroidism is not always easy: When to treat subclinical hypothyroidism, TSH goals in the elderly, and alternatives to levothyroxine monotherapy.

The majority of patients with hypothyroidism feel better when levothyroxine treatment restores thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations to normal. Increasingly, a significant minority of patients remain symptomatic and are dissatisfied with their treatment. Overzealous treatment of symptomatic patients with subclinical hypothyroidism may contribute to dissatisfaction among hypothyroidism patients, as potential hypothyroid symptoms in patients with minimal hypothyroidism rarely respond to treatment.

Comparison of long-term antithyroid drugs versus radioactive iodine or surgery for Graves' disease: A review of the literature.

Background: The management of Graves' disease (GD) in the US is shifting towards increased use of anti-thyroid drugs (ATD). If patients fail to achieve remission after a standard course of therapy of 12-18 months, long-term treatment with ATD (≥24 months) may be chosen over definitive therapy with radioiodine (RAI) or surgery. Clinicians will need to contrast this strategy to ablative therapies as they help patients in decision making.

A Survey of American Thyroid Association Members Regarding the 2015 Adult Thyroid Nodule and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Clinical Practice Guidelines.

The 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) on management of thyroid nodules (TNs) and differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) in adults were developed to inform clinicians, patients, researchers, and health policy makers about the best available evidence, and its limitations, relating to management of these conditions. We conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey of ATA members' perspectives of these CPGs, using a standardized survey (Clinician Guidelines Determinant Questionnaire) developed by the Guidelines International Network. A survey link was electronically mailed to members in February of 2019, with reminders sent to nonrespondents 2 and 5 weeks later.

An Online Survey of Hypothyroid Patients Demonstrates Prominent Dissatisfaction.

Background: Approximately 15% more patients taking levothyroxine (LT4) report impaired quality of life compared to controls. This could be explained by additional diagnoses independently affecting quality of life and complicating assignment of causation. This study sought to investigate the underpinnings of reduced quality of life in hypothyroid patients and to provide data for discussion at a symposium addressing hypothyroidism.

Improving the adoption of thyroid cancer clinical practice guidelines.

Objectives/hypothesis: To present an overview of the barriers to the implementation of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in thyroid cancer management and to introduce a computer-based clinical support system.

Data Sources: PubMed.

Review Methods: A review of studies on adherence to CPGs was conducted.

2016 American Thyroid Association Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Hyperthyroidism and Other Causes of Thyrotoxicosis.

Background: Thyrotoxicosis has multiple etiologies, manifestations, and potential therapies. Appropriate treatment requires an accurate diagnosis and is influenced by coexisting medical conditions and patient preference. This document describes evidence-based clinical guidelines for the management of thyrotoxicosis that would be useful to generalist and subspecialty physicians and others providing care for patients with this condition.

ROS1 Rearrangement in Thyroid Cancer.

Background: Aberrations involving the ROS1 gene have not been reported in thyroid cancer. Here, a case of ROS1-associated thyroid cancer with unique and aggressive characteristics is presented.

Patient Findings: A 24-year-old athlete presented with a 3.

ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE FOR PAPILLARY THYROID MICROCARCINOMA: NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.

Objective: The dramatic increase in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is primarily a result of early diagnosis of small cancers. Active surveillance is a promising management strategy for papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMCs). However, as this management strategy gains traction in the U.

Reassessing the NTCTCS Staging Systems for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer, Including Age at Diagnosis.

Background: Thyroid cancer is unique for having age as a staging variable. Recently, the commonly used age cut-point of 45 years has been questioned.

Objective: This study assessed alternate staging systems on the outcome of overall survival, and compared these with current National Thyroid Cancer Treatment Cooperative Study (NTCTCS) staging systems for papillary and follicular thyroid cancer.

Long-Term Outcomes Following Therapy in Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma: NTCTCS Registry Analysis 1987-2012.

Context: Initial treatments for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer are supported primarily by single-institution, retrospective studies, with limited follow-up and low event rates. We report updated analyses of long-term outcomes after treatment in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Objective: The objective was to examine effects of initial therapies on outcomes.

Database and registry research in thyroid cancer: striving for a new and improved national thyroid cancer database.

Background: Health registries have become extremely powerful tools for cancer research. Unfortunately, certain details and the ability to adapt to new information are necessarily limited in current registries, and they cannot address many controversial issues in cancer management. This is of particular concern in differentiated thyroid cancer, which is rapidly increasing in incidence and has many unknowns related to optimal treatment and surveillance recommendations.

What is the gold standard for comprehensive interinstitutional communication of perioperative information for thyroid cancer patients? A comparison of existing electronic health records with the current American Thyroid Association recommendations.

Background: Appropriate management of well-differentiated thyroid cancer requires treating clinicians to have access to critical elements of the patient's presentation, surgical management, postoperative course, and pathologic assessment. Electronic health records (EHRs) provide an effective method for the storage and transmission of patient information, although most commercially available EHRs are not intended to be disease-specific. In addition, there are significant challenges for the sharing of relevant clinical information when providers involved in the care of a patient with thyroid cancer are not connected by a common EHR.

Improving the quality of thyroid cancer care: how does the Thyroid Cancer Care Collaborative cross the Institute of Medicine's Quality Chasm?

Background: The current systems of healthcare delivery in the United States suffer from problems that often leave patients with inadequate quality of care. In their report entitled "Crossing the Quality Chasm," the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified reasons for poor and/or inconsistent quality of healthcare delivery and provided recommendations to improve it. The purpose of this review is to describe features of an innovative web-based program called the Thyroid Cancer Care Collaborative (TCCC) and see how it addresses IOM recommendations to improve the quality of healthcare delivery.

Prognosis of differentiated thyroid cancer in relation to serum thyrotropin and thyroglobulin antibody status at time of diagnosis.

Background: Serum thyrotropin (TSH) concentration and thyroid autoimmunity may be of prognostic importance in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Preoperative serum TSH level has been associated with higher DTC stage in cross-sectional studies; data are contradictory on the significance of thyroid autoimmunity at the time of diagnosis.

Objective: We sought to assess whether preoperative serum TSH and perioperative antithyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) were associated with thyroid cancer stage and outcome in DTC patients followed by the National Thyroid Cancer Treatment Cooperative Study, a large multicenter thyroid cancer registry.