Indication for radioiodine remnant ablation in differentiated thyroid cancer patients: does 2018 Italian consensus change anything?

Purpose: We speculated that radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA) could be performed less frequently in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients, if the recommendations of the 2018 Italian Consensus (ITA) were applied in clinical practice. Therefore, we compared the ITA indications for RRA with the recommendations by the 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines (ATA).

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 380 consecutive DTC patients treated with surgery and RRA, followed at the Section of Endocrinology, University of Siena, Italy from January 2006 to December 2019.

Results: Using ITA a significant increase of DTC patients classified as low or high risk and a significant decrease of patients defined at intermediate risk were observed (p < 0.0001). Consequently, the percentage of patients without routinary indication for RRA (47.4%, versus 38.2%, p < 0.0001) and those with a definite indication for RRA (8.2 versus 1.8%, p < 0.0001) was significantly higher compared to ATA. Moreover, using ITA the percentage of patients with a selective use of RRA was lower in comparison to ATA (44.7% versus 60%, p < 0.0001). Nevertheless, the prevalence of distant metastases, at post-ablative whole body scan, in patients without indication for RRA, was not different using either ATA or ITA (2.1% and 1.1% respectively, p = 0.37).

Conclusion: The use of ITA Consensus, in clinical practice, increases significantly the number of patients for whom RRA is not routinely indicated in comparison to ATA guidelines but without differences in delaying the diagnosis of distant metastatic disease.