Publications by authors named "Simone De Leo"

Context: The utility of thyroglobulin (Tg) in the follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients has been well-documented. Although third-generation immunoassays have improved accuracy, limitations persist (interfering anti-Tg antibodies and measurement variability). Evolving treatment strategies require a reevaluation of Tg thresholds for optimal patient management.

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Background: Fatigue is a frequent adverse event during systemic treatments for advanced thyroid cancer, often leading to reduction, interruption, or discontinuation. We were the first group to demonstrate a correlation between fatigue and primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI).

Aim: The objective was to assess the entire adrenal function in patients on systemic treatments.

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Introduction: Vitamin D is an essential hormone for humans, playing an important role in musculoskeletal and calcium homeostasis. Its deficiency/insufficiency seems to contribute to the development of cardiometabolic diseases in adults: this correlation appears less clear for children and adolescents. The aim of this paper was to review literature data on the relationship between vitamin D and lipid profile alterations in pediatric population.

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There is some controversy on the potential relationship between autoimmune processes and clinicopathologic features as well as prognosis of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), and the evidence is limited by its largely retrospective nature. We examined the relationship between the presence of autoimmune thyroiditis (AT) and 1-year thyroid cancer treatment outcomes in a large multicenter study using prospectively collected data. We included data from consecutive DTC patients enrolled in the Italian Thyroid Cancer Observatory (ITCO) database (NCT04031339).

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Objective: Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States. Although bariatric surgery can effectively achieve weight loss by altering the gastrointestinal tract, it commonly results in micronutrient deficiency, requiring supplementation. Iodine is an essential micronutrient for the synthesis of thyroid hormones.

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Article Synopsis
  • - *Hypertension (HTN) is a common side effect of lenvatinib (LEN) treatment, affecting 76% of patients, with many developing it for the first time during therapy.* - *The severity of HTN varied among patients, with 50% experiencing grade 2 and 45% grade 3 hypertension, often accompanied by proteinuria but not linked to other adverse effects except diarrhea.* - *A management strategy involving calcium channel blockers and additional antihypertensive medications was implemented for most patients to effectively control HTN and potentially improve adherence to LEN treatment.*
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Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have improved outcome for many tumors. Although better tolerated than cytotoxic chemotherapy, they may cause several adverse events (AEs) and various endocrine-related toxicities have been reported under TKI treatment. The toxicity profile varies between the different TKI compounds.

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Scanty data are available on the progression risk in patients with persistent thyroid cancer (TC) before pregnancy. We aimed to evaluate this topic in our series and to review available literature data. This was a retrospective study performed in a tertiary care Italian TC center.

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Several toxicities are recorded during treatment of advanced thyroid cancer (TC) with antiangiogenic drugs, including lenvatinib (LEN). Hypocalcemia was reported in registration studies, but little data are available from real-life cohorts. The aim of our study was to describe the incidence, characteristics, and the management of hypocalcemia in patients on LEN treatment.

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Optimized preoperative diagnostic tools with calcitonin tests, ultrasound features, functional imaging modalities, and genetic testing to detect hereditary forms have led to an increased rate of earlier diagnosis and surgery for medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). This helps to adapt the primary surgery to the tumor stage and avoid surgical overtreatment for localized tumor growth, i.e.

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In a minority of differentiated thyroid cancer (TC) cases and in a large percentage of poorly differentiated TCs (PDTCs) and anaplastic TCs (ATCs), the prognosis is poor due to the lack of response to conventional treatments. In the last two decades, multikinase inhibitor (MKI) compounds have been developed and demonstrated to be very effective in these aggressive cases. Besides the great efficacy, several adverse events (AEs) have been reported in virtually all patients treated with MKIs, largely overlapping between different compounds and including hypertension, diarrhea, anorexia, decreased weight, fatigue, and proteinuria.

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Context: Radioiodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer can be effectively treated with multi-tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (MKIs). Hypocalcaemia has been reported among the side effects of these drugs, but little is known about its pathophysiology and clinical relevance.

Case Report: We report the case of a 78-years-old woman with an aggressive papillary thyroid cancer infiltrating perithyroidal structures.

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Whether to conduct remnant ablation or adjuvant radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy in patients with intrathyroidal differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), sized 1.1-4 cm, is debated. We evaluated the impact of RAI on outcome in this category of DTCs.

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Transient postoperative hypocalcemia is a common complication after total thyroidectomy. Evidence on contributing metabolic factors is contradictory. Our work aims to define the role of preoperative 25-hydroxyvitaminD levels in developing transient postoperative hypocalcemia.

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Introduction: Lenvatinib (LEN) is a multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor currently used for advanced, radioiodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RAI-R DTC). Among adverse events (AEs), nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite have been frequently described. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence, the clinical presentation, and the effectiveness of conservative treatment of gallbladder disorders in a consecutive series of patient treated with LEN.

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Background: Controversies remain about the ideal risk-based surgical approach for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).

Methods: At a single tertiary care institution, 370 consecutive patients with low- or intermediate-risk DTC were submitted to either lobectomy (LT) or total thyroidectomy (TT) and were followed up.

Results: Event-free survival by Kaplan-Meier curves was significantly higher after TT than after LT for the patients with either low-risk (P = 0.

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Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is undoubtedly the thyroid cancer histotype with the poorest prognosis. The conventional treatment includes surgery, radiotherapy, and conventional chemotherapy. Surgery should be as complete as possible, securing the airway and ensuring access for nutritional support; the current standard of care of radiotherapy is the intensity-modulated radiation therapy; chemotherapy includes the use of doxorubicin or taxanes (paclitaxel or docetaxel) generally with platin (cisplatin or carboplatin).

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Purpose: Lenvatinib (LEN) has been approved for the treatment of patients with progressive radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RAI-R DTC). Real-life studies reported a lower progression-free survival (PFS) than the registration study, likely due to the more advanced stage of tumors, the more frequent pretreatment with other TKIs, the limited follow-up, and the worse clinical condition of the patients included.

Methods: We evaluated the clinical data of our cohort of 13 consecutive patients, all receiving LEN as a first-line TKI treatment, and followed-up in a single tertiary Center.

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Weight loss is one of the most frequent adverse events during treatment with multikinase inhibitors, but scanty data are available on its extent and characteristics. This is the first assessment of the body composition by bioelectrical impedance analysis and of circulating leptin and ghrelin levels, in patients with advanced thyroid cancer before and at regular intervals during treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib. Body mass index (BMI) decreased in all patients, with an average ∆ reduction of -6.

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Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is the most frequent endocrine malignancy and represents the most rapidly increasing cancer diagnosis worldwide. In the last 20 years, this increase has been mostly due to a higher detection of small papillary thyroid cancers, with doubtful effects on patients' outcome. In fact, despite this growth, cancer-related death remained stable over the years.

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Background: The need to integrate the classification of cancer with information on the genetic pattern has emerged in recent years for several tumors.

Methods: The genomic background of a large series of 208 papillary thyroid cancers (PTC) followed at a single center was analyzed by a custom MassARRAY genotyping platform, which allows the simultaneous detection of 19 common genetic alterations, including point mutations and fusions.

Results: Of the PTCs investigated, 71% were found to have pathognomonic genetic findings, with BRAF and TERT promoter mutations being the most frequent monoallelic alterations (42% and 23.

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Context: Two tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), lenvatinib and vandetanib, are often used to treat advanced radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RAI-R DTC) and medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), respectively. Fatigue is a common adverse event during treatment with these and other TKIs and a common cause of drug discontinuation or dosage reduction.

Cases Description: We evaluated the basal and stimulated adrenal function in 12 patients with advanced RAI-R DTC and MTC treated with lenvatinib or vandetanib, respectively.

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