238 Background: Little is known about treatment practices in thyroid cancer, a cancer that is increasing in incidence. We sought to identify aspects of thyroid cancer management that have the greatest variation and thereby uncertainty in management. Methods: We surveyed 944 physicians involved in thyroid cancer care from 251 hospitals affiliated with the U.S. National Cancer Database. Using vignettes and additional survey items, physicians were asked questions in the following four domains: thyroid surgery, radioactive iodine use, thyroid hormone replacement post-surgery, and long-term thyroid cancer management. To identify aspects of thyroid cancer management with the greatest uncertainty, we calculated the ratio of observed variation to hypothetical maximum variation under the assumed distribution of the response. Ratios closer to 1 indicate greater uncertainty. Results: There is large uncertainty in multiple aspects of thyroid cancer management, including the role of central lymph node dissections, the role of pretreatment scans before radioactive iodine treatment, and all aspects of long-term thyroid cancer management, including applications of ultrasound and radioactive iodine scans. For the management of small thyroid cancers, uncertainty exist in all domains, including optimal extent of surgery and the role of both radioactive iodine treatment and suppressive doses of thyroid hormone replacement. Conclusions: We identified areas of uncertainty in thyroid cancer management. Since both a lack of data and a lack of acceptance of the existing data may be contributing to the variation demonstrated, to improve the management of thyroid cancer there is a need for more research and more research dissemination.
Thyroid Hormone Replacement in Patients Following Thyroidectomy for Thyroid Cancer