Postoperative Management of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is being diagnosed with increasing incidence, but the mortality rate has remained low. The vast majority of these tumors are low-risk cancers, limited to the thyroid gland, which have a 20-year disease-specific survival rate close to 100%. Current recommendations aim to adapt adjuvant therapy and follow-up to each patient and each cancer, avoiding overtreatment and oversurveillance of indolent disease while escalating therapy for cancers with a high risk of recurrence and/or death. Current treatment paradigms will avoid unnecessary acute toxicity and long-term side effects associated with radioactive iodine (RAI) and thyroid hormone replacement therapy while effectively diagnosing and treating patients with distant metastases (DM) with appropriate techniques and drugs, improving quality of life and progression-free survival. Current classifications divide patients into risk groups that determine the extent of recommended adjuvant therapy and follow-up.