Follow-up of low risk thyroid cancer patients: can we stop follow up after 5 years of complete remission?

Follow-up of low risk thyroid cancer patients: can we stop follow up after 5 years of complete remission? Eur J Endocrinol. 2020 Mar 01;: Authors: Lamartina L, Handkiewicz-Junak D Abstract Each year, the proportion of thyroid cancer patients presenting with low-risk disease is increasing. The shift in the landscape of thyroid cancer presentation is forcing clinicians to re-evaluate not only management, but surveillance paradigms. During the follow-up, patients are stratified considering their response to treatment, and classified into one of the following response categories: excellent biochemical incomplete, structural incomplete, or indeterminate. These categories reflect a real-time prognosis and thereby substantially influence and personalise disease management. Although at present, no guideline recommends stopping differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) surveillance at any particular time point, the relatively low prevalence of treatment failures in low-risk patients may prompt early discontinuation of surveillance in this subgroup. Therefore this debate will present an overview of the controversies surrounding the surveillance of low-risk patients with DTC. PMID: 32197235 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: European Journal of Endocrinology - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Tags: Eur J Endocrinol Source Type: research