Procedure guidelines for radioiodine therapy of differentiated thyroid cancer (version 2)
SummaryThe procedure guidelines for radioiodine therapy (RIT) of differentiated thyroid cancer (version 2) are the counterpart to the procedure guidelines for 131I whole-body scintigraphy (version 2) and specify the interdisciplinary guidelines for thyroid cancer of the Deutsche Krebs-gesellschaft and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie concerning the nuclear medicine part. Compared with version 1 facultative options for RIT can be chosen in special cases: ablative RIT for papillary microcarcinoma ≤1 cm, ablative RIT for mixed forms of anaplastic and differentiated thyroid cancer, and RIT in patients with a measurable or increasing thyroglobulin concentration but without detectable metastases by imaging. The description of the pretherapeutic dosimetry now includes the isotopes 123I and 124I as well as a broader range of the activity of 131I. Activities of 2-5 GBq 131I are recommended for the first ablative RIT. If high accumulative activities of 131I are expected, men who have not yet finished their family planning should be advised to the option of sperm cryoconservation. An interdisciplinary consensus is necessary whether the new TNM-classification (UICC, 6th edition, 2002) will lead to modified recommendations for surgical or nuclear medicine therapy, especially for the surgical completeness and for the ablative RIT of pT1 papillary cancer.