Abstract
Purpose
This article examines the outcome of radioactive iodine ablation therapy for thyroid cancer in high-risk patients and investigates background factors influencing ablation failure.
Materials and methods
We included 91 patients in this retrospective analysis and evaluated the ablation success rate. Successful ablation was defined as the absence of visible iodine-131 (I-131) accumulation in the thyroid bed after whole-body scans and thyroglobulin levels <2 ng/ml in a TSH-stimulated state after ablation. We extracted data on patients’ age, sex, I-131 dose, pathology, resection stump findings, tumor T category and thyroglobulin levels, which could affect ablation outcome.
Results
Successful ablation was achieved in only 14 patients (15.4%). Pre-ablation serum thyroglobulin levels were significantly higher in the ablation failure group than in the success group (P < 0.001), while no significant differences were found for other factors between the groups. Furthermore, thyroglobulin levels >10 ng/ml were significantly related to ablation failure after multivariate analysis (odds ratio 27.2; 95% confidence interval 2.469–299.7; P = 0.007).
Conclusion
The ablation success rate was very low because of high thyroglobulin levels, even with high-dose I-131. High-risk patients, especially those with high thyroglobulin levels (>10 ng/ml), are unlikely to reach levels low enough to meet successful ablation criteria.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mazzaferri EL, Jhiang SM. Long-term impact of initial surgical and medical therapy on papillary and follicular thyroid cancer. Am J Med. 1994;97:418–28.
Mazzaferri EL, Kloos RT. Clinical review 128: current approaches to primary therapy for papillary and follicular thyroid cancer. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2001;86:1447–63.
Robbins RJ, Schlumberger MJ. The evolving role of 131I for the treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma. J Nucl Med. 2005;46:28S–37S.
Sawka AM, Thephamongkhol K, Brouwers M, Thabane L, Browman G, Gerstein HC. Clinical review 170: a systematic review and metaanalysis of the effectiveness of radioactive iodine remnant ablation for well-differentiated thyroid cancer. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004;89:3668–76.
Hackshaw A, Harmer C, Mallick U, Haq M, Franklyn JA. 131I activity for remnant ablation in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer: a systematic review. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007;92:28–38.
Peizhun D, Jiao Xuelong, Zhou Yanbing, Li Y, Kang S, Zhang D, et al. Low versus high radioiodine activity to ablate the thyroidafter thyroidectomy for cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Endocrine. 2015;48:96–105.
Bal C, Padhy AK, Jana S, Pant GS, Basu AK. Prospective randomized clinical trial to evaluate the optimal dose of 131I for remnant ablation in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Cancer. 1996;77:2574–80.
Creutzig H. High or low dose radioiodine ablation of thyroid remnants? Eur J Nucl Med. 1987;12:500–2.
Johansen K, Woodhouse NJ, Odugbesan O. Comparison of 1073 MBq and 3700 MBq iodine-131 in postoperative ablation of residual thyroid tissue in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. J Nucl Med. 1991;32:252–4.
Caglar M, Bozkurt FM, Akca CK, Vargol SE, Bayraktar M, Ugur O, et al. Comparison of 800 and 3700 MBq iodine-131 for the postoperative ablation of thyroid remnant in patients with low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer. Nucl Med Commun. 2012;33:268–74.
Kusacic Kuna S, Samardzic T, Tesic V, Medvedec M, Kuna K, Bracic I, et al. Thyroid remnant ablation in patients with papillary cancer: a comparison of low, moderate, and high activities of radioiodine. Nucl Med Commun. 2009;30:263–9.
Prpic M, Dabelic N, Stanicic J, Jukic T, Milosevic M, Kusic Z. Adjuvant thyroid remnant ablation in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma confined to the thyroid: a comparison of ablation success with different activities of radioiodine (I-131). Ann Nucl Med. 2012;26:744–51.
Haugen BR, Alexander EK, Bible KC, Doherty GM, Mandel SJ, Nikiforov YE, et al. 2015 American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer: the American Thyroid Association guidelines task force on thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. Thyroid. 2016;26:1–133.
Molinaro E, Giani C, Agate L, Biagini A, Pieruzzi L, Bianchi F, et al. Patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who underwent radioiodine thyroid remnant ablation with low-activity 131I after either recombinant human TSH or thyroid hormone therapy withdrawal showed the same outcome after a 10-year follow-up. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013;98:2693–700.
Mazzaferri EL, Robbins RJ, Spencer CA, Braverman LE, Pacini F, Wartofsky L, et al. A consensus report of the role of serum thyroglobulin as a monitoring method for low-risk patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003;88:1433–41.
Takami H, Ito Y, Okamoto T, Yoshida A. Therapeutic strategy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma in Japan based on a newly established guideline managed by Japanese Society of Thyroid Surgeons and Japanese Association of Endocrine Surgeons. World J Surg. 2011;35:111–21.
Tamilia M, Al-Kahtani N, Rochon L, Hier MP, Payne RJ, Holcroft CA, et al. Serum thyroglobulin predicts thyroid remnant ablation failure with 30 mCi iodine-131 treatment in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Nucl Med Commun. 2011;32:212–20.
Bernier MO, Morel O, Rodien P, Muratet JP, Giraud P, Rohmer V, et al. Prognostic value of an increase in the serum thyroglobulin level at the time of the first ablative radioiodine treatment in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2005;32:1418–21.
Mallick U, Harmer C, Yap B, Wadsley J, Clarke S, Moss L, et al. Ablation with low-dose radioiodine and thyrotropin alfa in thyroid cancer. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1674–85.
Schlumberger M, Catargi B, Borget I, Deandreis D, Zerdoud S, Bridji B, et al. Strategies of radioiodine ablation in patients with low-risk thyroid cancer. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1663–73.
Schvartz C, Bonnetain F, Dabakuyo S, Gauthier M, Cueff A, Fieffé S, et al. Impact on overall survival of radioactive iodine in low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer patients. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012;97:1526–35.
Khan N, Oriuchi N, Higuchi T, Zhang H, Endo K. PET in the follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer. Br J Radiol. 2003;76:690–5.
Silberstein EB. The problem of the patient with thyroglobulin elevation but negative iodine scintigraphy: the TENIS syndrome. Semin Nucl Med. 2011;41:113–20.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Financial support
This research was not supported by Grants from any foundation.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical statement
This study was approved by the Clinical Ethics Committee of Jikei University.
About this article
Cite this article
Watanabe, K., Uchiyama, M. & Fukuda, K. The outcome of I-131 ablation therapy for intermediate and high-risk differentiated thyroid cancer using a strict definition of successful ablation. Jpn J Radiol 35, 505–510 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-017-0660-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-017-0660-9