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Differentiated thyroid cancer: a focus on post-operative thyroid hormone replacement and thyrotropin suppression therapy

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Abstract

Purpose

This review focuses on post-operative thyroid hormone replacement and thyrotropin suppression therapy in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Methods

A clinical review.

Results

Differentiated thyroid cancers (DTC), including papillary and follicular thyroid cancers, have an excellent prognosis and their management leverages a unique set of clinical tools arising from homology to the normal thyroid follicular cell. Surgery is the cornerstone of initial management, and post-operative care often requires thyroid hormone replacement therapy, which may be approached with the intent of physiologic normalization or used pharmacologically to suppress TSH as part of a DTC treatment.

Conclusion

Management of DTC and approaches to TSH suppression are tailored to an individual’s risk of DTC recurrence and are adjusted to a patient’s clinical status and comorbidities over time with the goal of mitigating risk and maximizing benefit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA

    Benjamin J. Gigliotti

  2. Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Lipid Research, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Sina Jasim

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  1. Benjamin J. Gigliotti
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  2. Sina Jasim
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Both authors contributed to the review conception, outline, and literature review. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Benjamin Gigliotti. Both authors performed editing and read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sina Jasim.

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Gigliotti, B.J., Jasim, S. Differentiated thyroid cancer: a focus on post-operative thyroid hormone replacement and thyrotropin suppression therapy. Endocrine 83, 251–258 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-023-03548-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-023-03548-8

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