The following is a summary of “Medium- and long-term recurrence after radioiodine therapy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma with recombinant human thyrotropin: a meta-analysis,” published in the December 2024 issue of Endocrinology by Yao et al.
Radioactive iodine (RAI) is commonly used to treat differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Still, the long-term efficacy and recurrence risks remain unclear, particularly when comparing recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) with thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW).
Researchers conducted a retrospective study comparing the medium- and long-term recurrence rates in patients with DTC treated with rhTSH or THW.
They conducted a systematic search to identify studies comparing medium- and long-term outcomes (> 2 years) in patients treated with rhTSH or THW, 10 studies, including 6 RCTs and 4 retrospective studies, with a total of 2,833 patients, were included in the analysis.
The results showed no significant difference in the medium- and long-term recurrence rates between the rhTSH and THW groups (P>0.05). Subgroup analyses of only RCTs or retrospective studies also showed no significant change in recurrence rates. The structural incomplete response (SIR) rate was slightly higher in the rhTSH group, but a subgroup analysis of RCTs revealed no significant change in SIR between the 2 groups.
They concluded that rhTSH was comparable to THW in maintaining low recurrence rates and achieving successful ablation of residual disease in patients with DTC. Further RCTs were needed to explore whether rhTSH increases the risk of SIR.
Source: frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2024.1474121/full
