Endocrine Late Effects in Young Cancer Patients: Thyroid Gland

The increased survival rates after pediatric oncological therapy result in an increase in the number of patients showing late effects of tumor therapy. Thyroid function and proliferation disorders in particular are common sequelae of treatment of malignant tumors in childhood and adolescence. They predominantly occur after irradiation of the head and neck and the thyroid glands. The clinical symptoms depend on the thyroid hormone status. The current guidelines on endocrine late effects in these patients are endorsed by the working group of the Scientific Medical Specialist Societies (AWMF). Based on standardized evaluation of currently available literature, this review article summarizes the approaches for late sequelae of tumor therapy on thyroid glands.