Benefits of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma in different risk stratification from 131I therapy

As an important postsurgical adjuvant treatment for DTC, radioactive iodine (RAI) is administered to eliminate residual thyroid tissue as well as the potentially persistent or distant metastatic lesions. It plays a significant role in reducing disease recurrence and tumor-related mortality. The major challenge at present in RAI treatment decision-making is how to achieve optimum clinical outcome with minimal radiation exposure. ATA guidelines recommends a postsurgical recurrence-risk adapted approach to RAI treatment management based on the clinicopathological features. However, RAI therapy is not beneficial to all DTC patients. The potential benefits from RAI therapy in DTC patients with different risk stratification have attracted much attention, and are reviewed in this article in order to provide more evidence-based basis for clinical decision-making. Key words: Thyroid neoplasms; Neoplasm recurrence, local; Radiotherapy; Iodine radioisotopes